


Point of no Return

by Mad_Zazzy



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Crime Scenes, Depression, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fight Scenes, Gaster is the big spook, Murder Mystery, Neutral Run, No More Resets (Undertale), OCs - Freeform, OCs are minor characters, POV Third Person, Panic Attacks, Sans is the royal judge, Suicide, grillby is the hero no one deserves, magic dynamics, many bad puns, mild drug use, one sided Sans/Grillby, other runs talked about, skeltons pov, terrible secret santa, try to solve the murder, tw suicide, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2019-10-14 03:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 38
Words: 226,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17500685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Zazzy/pseuds/Mad_Zazzy
Summary: After many Resets, the human leaves the Underground with a rather uneventful Neutral Run. Sans believes they aren't coming back but is left unsure as time continues to progress.The calm of Snowdin Town is interuped one night by a violent murder, which falls on Papyrus and his Sentries to solve. As the situation escalates and gets stranger, they realise their own lives may be on the line.Is the threat of another anomily really gone? Will Papyrus be able to solve this deadly puzzle before time runs out?A high stakes adventure focusing on comedy and mystery.Updates every Tuesday.Yo! This thing now has a Tumblr! 8D





	1. Something to laugh about

An: Yo! This is my first story, really hope you enjoy it! Have a lovely day!

Edit: HEY! We gots a Tumblr for this ting! https://madzazzy.tumblr.com/

# Point of no Return 

Dots of sunlight shone through tiny holes in the ceiling of the cavern, signalling dawn in the Underground. A bright substitute sun flared to life illuminating the Capital at the far end of the cavern, its cold yellow lighting the whole stretch of the vast cave. Small electric lights blinked on to light up the pathways of Waterfall, leading into Snowdin Town, where the light from their makeshift sun had trouble reaching.  
As the light reached the quiet little town, it quickly began to creep to life. Monsters silently trudged through the fresh snowfall careful not to wake their fellow townspeople as they shuffled off towards their businesses. Over the hour, more lights began to flicker through windows and more of the townsfolk strolled along the main street. Some brighter faces calling to one another and chatting, though most hid under big coats or scarves looking dreary and downcast. 

A regular Tuesday morning then. 

To one of Snowdin’s residents, the morning light was especially not welcome. Despite his curtains being drawn, an uncomfortable amount of light still illuminated the messy bedroom. Sans pulled his bed covers over his head in an attempt to block out the gross white light. Morning was most defiantly unwelcome. 

When his first alarm buzzed, it was ignored. 

Second alarm- also ignored. 

“SANS! IM MAKING BREAKFAST, TIME TO GET UP!!!” His brother called up the stairs. Which he acknowledged but chose instead to fall back to sleep.  
His fourth and final alarm, he knew couldn’t be avoided. It was the distinct sound of heavy footsteps marching up the stairs. “Sans, you better not still be asleep in there!” 

“…mmrph...”

Sans was shaken out of his half-asleep state by his door being loudly kicked open. 

“I can’t believe you are such a lazy bones!” Papyrus dramatically gasped at his sleeping brother. 

The tall skeleton huffed before carefully crossing Sans’ room, tip-toeing across his cluttered floor towards the window.  
Sans tiredly peaked out of the top of his blanket, hazily blinking a few times to slowly adjust. Too slow for his brother to accept though.  
“urrh, no don’t open th-“

Papyrus threw open the curtains. 

The smaller skeleton recoiled at the sudden assault on his eyes, making a horrified sound that didn’t seem like it should have belonged to him.  
“Your breakfast spaghetti is getting cold.” Papyrus stated in vague annoyance. “And have you forgotten we have a busy day. An exciting day! A busy exciting- Oh God what is that smell?!” His arms waved expressively before narrowing his eyes at the mess on the floor, trying to find the culprit.  
Reaching down, Papyrus picked up a nearly untouched bowl of spaghetti that looked like it had been kicked under the bed. He held it at arm’s length, judging from the colour and texture it must have been… two, no three days old. 

“Really?!” The bowl was rushed out of the room along with a few other kitchen utensils (Including a rolling pin. Who knows what that was doing on the floor?) Followed by the sound of them being thrown into the sink. 

Sans was slowly starting to sit up when Papyrus returned seconds later with a garbage sack and laundry basket. They were placed neatly beside his open doorway. The monster rubbed at his eyes, briefly catching a glimpse of his brother peering around the door. His expression lightening at seeing Sans finally moving. That made Sans’ grin return to its usual capacity. 

He checked the time. 8:47. For Papyrus this was late to be leaving so that must mean they had to go somewhere together. He wasn’t too sure.  
Finally throwing himself into a standing position, Sans pushed his feet into his fluffy slippers. Oh, so he had remembered to take his socks off before going to bed. He had also managed to change into full nightwear rather than just removing his jacket (or not in some cases) and he had slept well. It made him suspicious, compared to the usual state he woke up in. 

A nervousness moved beneath his ribcage as he reached up to check his calendar. Some scrap paper hung over the flip pad calendar which hung to his wall. Quickly pulling them off revealed large date boxes covered in red ‘X’s and filled with the events of each day scribbled in messy writing.  
He sighed in relief at the date the ‘X’s ended at the date he had expected, the one which followed from yesterday. He checked the year too, just to be certain. 

Just to be sure, he took out his phone from his jacket pocket. Correct day. He grabbed another paper diary hidden under his mattress. Correct day. Good, but just to be sure he opened all three and checked that he had written about yesterday’s happenings. Including his phones calendar function, all three had the same description. Word for word on each. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sans hid away the journal, stuck the scrap paper back over the wall calendar and locked his phone. He got ready at his own pace and went downstairs. 

Upon reaching the kitchen, a very unappealing bowl of spaghetti noodles were thrust into his hands. There was no sauce, just the pasta strands and what Sans could only guess were supposed to be chopped vegetables before Papyrus had turned them to ash. 

“Are you sure you don’t want any sauce with it? It looks so dull.” Papyrus asked, pointing to the red ‘bolognaise sauce’ left over from this morning’s batch. 

Sans took his bowl and sat down in front of their television. “Nah, its ok. Guess my taste has changed.”

Papyrus looked a little uncertain from where he stood in the kitchen doorway. “And it’s not my recipe?” 

“No way, bro. You’re getting real good at this, I can even recognise what dish it’s supposed to be.” Papyrus hummed contently at his response.  
“Well what can you expect from a master of the pasta arts, such as myself?” Sans could see his brother pose dramatically from the corner of his eye. His grin softened in amusement. 

The TV show was the same as usual- Mettaton prancing around, doing a big dance number to his latest pop song, despite the fact that this was supposed to be a quiz show. The remaining contestants looked mildly uncomfortable as they looked on from their stands. Only one contestant seemed to be enjoying it and knew the words to the song. Mettaton had quickly pulled her up to the middle of the stage where he threw the cat monster around in a made-up dance.

Oh hey, he recognised her, the cat monster was one of a duo of merchants from the back alley of Mettaton’s hotel and resort. Sans couldn’t remember her name but she looked like she was having the time of her life. 

After revealing his new body some weeks back, Mettaton seemed to be in the spotlight even more than usual. The robotic superstar’s newly designed body had caused some controversy over its human inspired appearance. Who could blame them, on the same day a human killed their king and took away the last of the Underground’s hope- the six human souls they had collected. 

Because of this, Mettaton seemed to be constantly on chat shows, giving interviews for the newspaper and of cause using the opportunity to further promote his work. He must have been working 24/7. Sans wondered if he ever got tired, being a robot and all. 

The train of thought was broken by Papyrus sitting down beside him. The tall skeleton frowned, standing back up and rummaging around under the lumpy couch cushion. He pulled out a few joke books and other miscellaneous items before sitting back down. 

“So what’s so exciting about today?” Sans asked.

Papyrus smiled across at him, “Undyne’s announcement…?” He waited for a look a recognition from Sans. When none came, he continued. “I can’t believe you’ve forgotten. The Royal Guard are meeting for a special announcement from Undyne. The Snowdin sentries are invited too.” 

Oh, it was that time again. The shorter skeleton nodded and tucked his knees closer to his chest.  
He turned the spaghetti around on his fork, it was cold and had congealed from being left on its own for a little too long without sauce. It wasn’t chewy and wasn’t all that mushy either. He could honestly say this was one of his brothers more successful culinary endeavours. 

“Hey, you ok, bro?” Sans asked, noticing his brother staring into his food with an uneasy expression.

“Now that the queen has changed the law on humans, they are not going to need sentries in Snowdin Forest. I know there have been rumours that the whole Royal Guard will be disbanded, and I haven’t been able to get a word about it from Undyne.” He sounded exasperated. “Are we going to lose our jobs?” Papyrus turned to face him with surprisingly sad eyes. 

Sans felt his soul quiver, he hated seeing his brother upset. It wasn’t the first time he had been asked that question in the past weeks when the queen had announced that the Royal Guard was to be majorly changed. Sans was just as apprehensive. 

Making sure his eyes didn’t give away his own uncertainty, he answered with as much optimism as he could. “It’ll be ok, Paps. There’s no point in worrying until we know what’s gonna happen. Undyne knows what she’s doing, she’s your friend, I’m sure she’ll sort something out for you. The queen is great, too. I don’t think she would intentionally put anyone out of a job.”

Papyrus thought for a moment before smiling. “Yeah. Thanks Sans, you’re always right!” 

Well that had worked for now, though, Sans wished he could believe any of what he was saying.  
“Heh, well I’m not just some bonehead, Papyrus. I’ll have you know, I know a skele-ton.” 

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Papyrus quickly finished his meal. Despite how he seemed to disapprove of the joke, a smile crept back onto his face, whether he wanted it to be there or not. The encouragement from Sans had helped too. Sans felt his brother’s soul warm as it was filled back up with encouragement, letting the doubts about their future fall away. 

Monsters were made of magic and love, people said. Or should they say magic and emotion in general. Monsters could feel the bright glow of happiness coming from a joyful friend, and feel it warm their own souls. In the same way, you would feel the chill creep into you while interacting with those who were deeply saddened. 

Their emotion was key to any monster’s wellbeing, of course. A mentally sick monster will damage its own soul. For instance, monsters had been known to die of heartbreak. The hopelessness of being trapped below the earth had caused an epidemic of depression across the Underground.  
Papyrus’s soul seemed to be eternally warm, unaffected by the dreariness of their home. His enthusiasm was effortless. Though many people saw him as arrogant and too assertive, Sans knew that they just struggled to see how he could be so optimistic. 

It was one of the many reasons Sans enjoyed the company of his brother. Whereas Papyrus’s soul was strong and loving, Sans’ was weak and hopeless. He could see the faint dark blue glow of the tiny heart shaped object behind his ribcage. 

Yeah, he could see other monster’s souls. No, it wasn’t considered ‘normal’. So what? 

The brothers were like light and dark. Papyrus’s mere presence was enough to keep his brother stable. The darkness from Sans was barely enough to dull the other’s light. 

Quickly finishing off his food, Papyrus stood and took Sans’ breakfast spaghetti out of his hands. He looked disappointed that he had only taken a few bites from it. 

As Papyrus quickly washed the dishes and tidied the room to a near spotless state, Sans remained curled on the sofa. The shorter skeleton’s eyes felt heavy, he still felt tired despite the peaceful sleep he had managed to have. Trying to focus on the end of Mettaton’s quiz show, he felt the uneasiness of today’s schedule settling in the back of his mind. Undyne was a great friend to Papyrus, she was loyal, funny and great in her position as Captain of the Royal Guard. Her downfall was that she could easily be led by her emotions.

Sans knew from previously erased timelines that she could be difficult to deal with if anything happened to her friends, including King Asgore, especially if it rocked the chain of command and put her position in jeopardy. The problem was that the situation met all of those criteria. In some of the resets the situation seemed under control until Undyne was told something she didn’t like, had rebelled and gone as far as to cause an uprising and overthrow whoever was ruling at the time. Of cause, the problem was that there was no learning from mistakes when Sans was the only one who remembered. 

“Time to go now, lazy bones!” Papyrus threw his scarf around his neck and stood at the door patiently as he watched his brother slowly switch off the TV and stuff his hoodie pockets full of ketchup sachets. 

It wasn’t a long walk to Undyne’s home in Waterfall, but Sans hated walking. If it wasn’t for his brother apprehension for the event, he would have stayed at home and left five minutes before and taken a shortcut straight there… Actually, he would probably have just stayed at home. 

They trudged through the thin layer of snow down the town’s main street towards Waterfall. Papyrus waving hello to each of the monsters they saw. Sans shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets, his unchanging grin firmly fixed in place. They followed the path until the snow started to clear and the air became damp. 

They passed the bridges where the spray from the numerous waterfalls sometimes threw stones or garbage onto the paths. The cold spray from the water sent chills down his spine and he pulled his hoodie closer around his neck. They walked silently through dimly lit cave areas and darker enclosed rooms where crystals lit the path. Waterfall was marked the deepest part of the cavern, water rushed through walls and down from the ceiling of the Underground. Apart from the rushing water, the area was mostly silent and monsters would often be ambushed by others looking to pick a fight. Children and weaker monsters were discouraged to travel alone or leave the well-lit areas. 

The two skeletons walked quietly into the clearing near Undyne’s house. A few Royal Guardsmen were already gathered, all in their full armour.  
Papyrus immediately went about greeting everyone in the clearing. Of cause talking about how he was training to join the Royal Guard, and being trained by Undyne no less! Of cause, he received mixed reactions to that. 

Sans chose to lean against a rocky wall and observe. The guardsmen were a mixed bunch, many were decent monsters who cared for the people they defended while there was the occasional other was more blood thirsty who would use their position as an excuse to harm others.  
Though there weren’t many monsters like that, the Royal Guard was full of the ‘tough guy’ sort, a demographic Sans knew his brother would have a hard time getting along with. Or rather, vice versa. 

A soft bark behind him turned his attention away from Papyrus. The sentry dogs had arrived. “Hey guys.” The skeleton greeted with a small wave.  
Doggo was being led by Doggaressa. “Ay Short-stuff, that you? Can’t believe you showed up to this rubbish.” The near blind dog grumbled, making the married dogs growl in dislike. 

Sans ignored the nickname and probably intentional insult in favour of a good-natured chuckle. “Yeah, well I’m here mostly for my bro. Heh, who knows, it could be interesting.” 

“I doubt it. We’re losing our jobs. That’s the only reason Undyne invited us- she’d feel bad about just sending us a letter with ‘you’re fired’ written on the front of the envelope.” Doggo growled.

Lesser Dog wined and Dogamy growled a little more towards his blind workmate who gave a tiny shrug. “Oh, you all know I’m right about this one.” Reaching into his coat, Doggo pulled out a dog treat, which he swiftly lit up. 

Sans gave a shrug of his own. “Well, Undyne can be a little fishy if you ask me. As long as we can still keep a roof over our heads by the end of it, we’ll be fine.”

Dogamy and Doggo groaned while Doggaressa covered her nose to supress a giggle. Their reactions to his jokes were always the best. Of cause Greater and Lesser Dog stood behind them looking blank. 

A slightly uncomfortable silence followed. Undyne should be out pretty soon now. The clearing had gotten pretty busy, the hoard of variously shaped and sized monsters all clad head to toe in dark grey armour. Sans could imagine how intimidating they could be attacking as a small army.  
Dogamy spoke up “Is that Papyrus I can hear over there making friends?” He squinted, trying to focus his eyes. It was probably all the dog treats they smoked that made them all go blind. “In fact, is that him dancing around like an idiot? Does someone what to go and save him or are we going to deny all connections to him?”

Sans immediately regretted not keeping a closer eye on his brother. “S’ok, I got him.” 

The skeleton was excitedly recounting some sort of tale in front of three Guardsmen. They laughed at him and as Sans approached, he could hear one of them start to tease Papyrus about his ‘battle body’ fancy dress costume. He happily responded that it was from a party some time ago, which he found too cool to stop wearing. 

“Hey bro, watcha’ up to?” He asked, moving to his brother’s side. 

Papyrus glanced down at him. “Sans! I was just telling-“

“Oh gosh, is this your ‘mighty’ brother!?” A female sounding guard laughed. Her voice was shrill and unpleasant behind her helmet. “I imagined him to look a little more. Ur. Formidable.” The group laughed at that. 

The shorter monster was unfazed by their boisterous natures. His grin didn’t waver as he exchanged a glance with Papyrus and shrugged.  
“Haha! Well sure he can be cool sometimes. He would be cool much more often if he bothered to try.” The last bit came out a little quieter as his brother grit his teeth, probably not meaning for his words to be taken too seriously. Papyrus had attempted to playfully defend him and Sans didn’t care too much.

He settled for lowering his eyes to the guard’s chests to examine their souls. Lv1, Lv1, Lv2, with a few Execution points between them. Two with the darkness of the Underground’s hopelessness epidemic fading most of the light from the heart shaped life forces. The one that belonged to the unpleasant female had an equally unpleasant crack running nearly all the way down it. An illness, probably terminal. Skimming over their HP he nearly laughed. These three were just bullies who still thought they were in the school playground. 

Papyrus seemed to be losing control of the conversation now and looked increasingly more uncomfortable. Sans placed his hand lightly over his brother’s forearm. 

“The rest of our guys are here. You wanna come say hi?” Asked Sans. This seemed to ground Papyrus’s flustered movements.  
The skeleton looked down softly. “Of cause, Sans. Undyne should be here soon.” He wished the three good day and Sans gave them a small wave as they turned to leave. 

“Seeya, shorty!” The female called behind them.

Sans turned back briefly. “Seeya, ‘near dust’.” He said in his usual casual tone.

Her arms went rigid at her sides at the term commonly used for monsters with incurable illnesses. Their disturbed reaction was incredibly satisfying Sans’ magic buzzed within him with an aggression he knew better than to act on. 

Luckily, Papyrus had not heard his insult and instead went to greet the dogs. They stood on the side lines in a quieter area where fewer guards stood. It was only now that Sans noticed how uncomfortable they looked. 

Come to think about it, he wondered how well he was hiding his own apprehension. In all the previous timelines where events like this had happened, before being reset, Undyne’s reaction was what separated a peaceful end to a death sentence. 

The guards began to quieten, signalling the arrival of Undyne. She emerged into the clearing in full armour, minus her helmet. Its absence removing some seriousness; which immediately made Sans’ feel a little easier. 

Undyne scaled the side of the cave wall, standing on a ridge which put her a few feet above the crowd. He expression suddenly turned from uneasy to her usual confident grin. It made her fins sway upwards and her armour clinked as she raised a hand in a salute.  
The action was copied by her soldiers, Papyrus, Dogamy and Dogaressa, though none of the other Snowdin sentries bothered. The tall skeleton made to send her a wave and his biggest grin, though his arm was thankfully caught in time by Dogamy, who whispered “Wait till later.” He complied. 

“Wazzup! So, I wanted to clear up some rumours I’ve heard over the past few weeks. I can see some of you looking real nervous and I ain’t into that.” She paused looking around. Not many monsters seemed to loosen up just yet. “I’m also giving you a run-down of what’s happened in the last two weeks. 

Two- and -a-bit weeks ago a human fell down into the Ruins. They travelled towards the castle and the Barrier, moving on the main paths. We engaged them multiple times, myself included, though we could not kill or capture them.” Undyne spoke with a powerful authority, even as her tone of voice dipped in disappointment at her own failure, she still carried a pressure around her, the presence of an incredibly powerful monster and firm leader.

“The human made it to the castle where they killed King Asgore.” She paused for a beat, despite this news now being common knowledge there was still a dark finality about hearing her announce it, the audience was eerily silent. “The dust of another monster was found nearby. They were a plant-based monster. If anyone knew who they were we obviously want to put a name to the dead, especially since they likely died protecting the King.”  
Sans bit back a noise of shock. Flowey? Flowey was dead? It couldn’t! But he was positive it couldn’t be anyone else. Scenarios for what could have caused the human to kill the horrible creature danced in his mind. Sans bit back a laugh, his carefully steady expression did not change though he couldn’t stop his shoulders from shaking slightly. The soulless thing was dead! Maybe this timeline was looking up! 

He was suddenly woken from his musings by a hand on his shoulder. “You knew him too?” Papyrus whispered, looking upset. Of cause the two had been ‘friends’, the small monster had forgotten. Berating himself for getting so easily excited, he huffed out a laugh, which he tried to disguise as sadness. Sans tried to focus back onto Undyne.

“The six human souls have also disappeared. Stolen or destroyed, we don’t know. That rumour is true though, I’m very sorry to tell you.” The feeling of crackling angry magic bounced around the clearing although most monsters hid their feeling or just felt disbelief. 

“As you’ll be aware the queen has returned form her voluntary absence to take the throne.” The blue scaled monster paused, contemplating how to proceed. “While this does help in the way of who will be ruling in Asgore’s place, Queen Toriel is non the less changing how we work around here.”  
A few of the guard mumbled to each other at this; their Captain fixed them with a piercing look which knocked them back into immediate silence. “The policy on how we deal with any further fallen humans will be such: Any human who enters the Underground will be treated as a friend and be allowed to stay and leave as they wish.”

The clearing erupted in anger, invisible tendrils of magic lashed out among the soldiers in their aggression. Undyne stood tall waiting for them to get it out of their system. After bearing with them a full half minute, an energy spear formed in her hand, was thrown upwards and exploded in light, illuminating the cavern’s dark walls. 

“As I was saying” She continued firmly. “I have heard some people saying that because of this or whatever law change, the Royal Guard will be disbanded, this is not the case.” Another moment of murmurs and the occasional sigh of relief. “However, the Queen has some issue with the way we work and conduct ourselves. I’ll spare you the finer details and get to the point. The first change we need to make is to give the chain of command a reshuffle. I’ll be dividing you into units for each area of the Underground, that way we can have specific monsters who know their area and can deal with its specific needs and any problems that occur within that area.” More whispers.

Undyne began to call out areas of the underground, the names of those within each unit and who their team leader would be. Starting with a small group in the Queen’s castle, a large group for the Capital, a group specifically in the Core, down into Hotlands and further into the less populated tail end of the cavern. There were woops and cheers as the soldiers discovered who their close partners and Group Leads were to be. The vibe of the room shifted to one of excitement, it seemed their leader knew her people well and had kept them in their close friendship groups or with those who worked well together. No one was being left out. Though their little unit form Snowdin looked between each other with uncertainty. Surely the bad news that there was no space for them was about to be dropped. 

“As for Snowdin Town and it’s surrounding forest, I leave under the control of the Sentry unit, led by Papyrus. No one knows the area like you.” She said this while looking right at them. In the less than a second it happened, it was like a silent conversation, relief and joy passed between both parties. It was like releasing a lead weight keeping them underwater. “Your first task is to remove all of your human hunting traps.”

Greater Dog had howled with joy and gathered the whole group in one huge hug. Everyone looked between each other in shared glee. Papyrus managed to give Undyne an eager nod, who grinned back at him. Lesser Dog howled along, probably not understanding what he was excited over.  
Undyne concluded “As for the Ruins it is still under debate what will happen to it, the area still remains a haven for the underground’s most vulnerable monsters so a more delicate long-term plan is needed regarding that. As for me, I’ll be surveying all of your work. I’ll still be based here in waterfall, so you still know where to find me.”

This was going so smoothly, too smoothly. Sans was sure he would wake up in a minute. A practical joke maybe? Perhaps his tired mind had finally snapped and this was all just some fantasy where everyone was safe? Surely something disastrous would happen in a minute. Maybe the ceiling collapse or an enormous beast would crawl from Waterfall’s depths and devour them all. Or maybe the six-legged guardsman further to his right would spontaneously combust, he looked like he might. 

“Any questions?” Undyne called into the now restless crowd. 

Only several hands rose, and the Captain pointed for a wide, winged monster to speak. “Captain, since the human souls have been lost and we are forbidden from collecting more, how is the Queen planning on breaking the barrier?” 

“While I’m afraid I don’t know the specifics, our scientists have been focusing their efforts on finding a way to break the barrier. Our Royal Scientist is Dr. Alphys; and I’m pretty sure she has the brain power of most of us combined, so I doubt we’ll be waiting down here for much longer.” The remaining monsters put down their hands, it seemed her answer had met all of their questions. No more questions arose. 

With a loud “Dismissed!” her armour clanked as she leapt down from her vantage point and disappeared amongst the crowd. 

Their group didn’t wait any longer before turning and making the trek back to Snowdin. The dogs were swapping jokes about others they had seen in the crowd and what could have gone on in the background to keep Undyne so happy. Clearly the short-term issue of what was to become of their jobs was more important to them than the longer-term problem of ever escaping the Underground. 

Doggo passed dog treats to anyone who would except them (all the dogs, none of the skeletons), Greater Dog didn’t even seem to recognise what he was being given. The nearly blind dog barked with laughter after exclaiming “We still have jobs!” for possibly the tenth time that trip. “First stop: Grillbys! Drinks on me! Yes, you too, Bonehead, this is a celebration!” He added as he caught Papyrus’s disapproving glare.

“It’s not even lunchtime!” Papyrus countered, to no avail, the rest of the group seemed to be all to keen on this idea. 

Doggo gave a heavily exaggerated shrug “Celebrations don’t wait for lunchtime!”.

Sans allowed himself a genuine smile, walking quietly alongside his workmates, listening to their joy. Happy and all _alive_.  
This Reset was being awfully kind to him.


	2. All for a few rocks

The group had dragged a very reluctant Papyrus with them into the bar and thrust a large drink into his hands. The skeleton hadn’t been able to identify its contents so had loudly refused to accept it. The drink had sat quietly fizzing until Sans had replaced it with a milkshake, which he had gratefully accepted. His original drink being pushed to one of the dogs, who didn’t complain either. 

“He’s our official leader now! In charge of all of us folk in ‘Snowdin and its surrounding forest’.” Doggo called over to the bar, where Grillby stood with one other patron, the only person in at this time of day who wasn’t in the Sentries’ group. Grillby gave a pleased nod and thumbs up to the skeleton, who had Doggo’s paw tightly clasped onto his shoulder. 

The other old monster by the bar spoke up, “Well done, kid. Sounds like you’re an official guard now, doesn’t it?” 

Papyrus grinned around at them all. “Very soon, I am sure! I’m still training and Undyne is very cool, I’m sure she can see I’m very dedicated! I have no doubt that once that training is completed, I will be an excellent addition to the Guard!” He excitedly proclaimed. Sans was sure he was the only one who could tell that his brother was without some of his usual gusto.

After nearly an hour Papyrus couldn’t take any more ‘pointless sitting around’, wished them all a good celebration, told his brother not to be home too late and promptly left. He had been quieter than usual and not just because he wasn’t the biggest fan of Grillby’s. Papyrus was upset about Flowey’s death. No one seemed to notice except Sans. 

The afternoon dragged into early evening and Sans had just sat back down with the dogs after a rather long chat with Grillby, who wanted to know every detail of Undyne’s meeting. A buzz from his phone and a message from Alphys appeared.  
‘If ur not busy plz can you come to lab and give me a hnd’  
‘*hand’  
‘hope that dn’t sound rude’

He grinned wider at her stream of messages and sent his confirmation. Bidding goodbye to those in the bar he trudged outside into the snow and stepped through a shortcut into the hot dry air of Hotlands. 

Ringing her doorbell and waiting only a second before hearing the rushed patter of feet approaching. The small lizard monster peered around a crack in the door. “Oh, h-hey Sans.” she greeted through a nervous grin, opening the door just enough for him to sneak through himself. Sans thought her reaction was like she hadn’t expected him at all and had been caught out at a really bad time. This sort of behaviour was fairly normal for her.

“How ya keeping, Alph?” His eyes adjusting to the bright white of the lab’s lights. It was fairly cluttered inside and smelled distinctly of chicken microwave noodles. 

“Ok, I guess… A little stressed. Everyone is pressuring me to find a new way o-of getting through the barrier.” She rung her hands, looking uncomfortable. 

The skeleton pushed on, “So, did you need a hand with something?” 

His prompt worked in getting her to focus. “Yeah, if- if you have time. I need to collect some crystals from Waterfall’s l-lowest area, you know, the ones that store energy. O-only if you have time”? She stammered. 

Sans grinned widely, “Waterfall’s lowest area huh? That’s a little dangerous, you sure you don’t want more than a 1hp bag of bones as a body guard?  
Alphys seemed to jump at this, her wide eyes looked huge with her glasses magnifying them. “O-oh gosh, I d-didn’t mean to assume-. You r-right I shouldn’t risk-!” 

“Hey, I was only kidding! Sounds great, I’m always happy to help.” He winked and gave her a minute to recover. 

The Royal Scientist eventually coughed a small laugh and gave him a playful scowl. Sans had remained a close friend with his old lab partner despite him leaving the job years previous, for reasons he couldn’t quite remember. He tried to think. Why had he left-.

“Thank you! I would have asked Undyne but y-you know how she gets worried about me, can you imagine how much she would freak out if she knew I went to the lower levels!?” The yellow monster covered her mouth when she realised how loud she had spoken (which really wasn’t loud at all, when you lived with Papyrus.) as if the walls might whisper her secrets if someone were to ask them. “Plus, you actually understand what I’m talking about with stuff like this.” She finished in a hushed tone, gesturing to the lab’s various bits and bobs. 

“Hehe, well I’m sure we’ll be just fine. I’m ready if you are?”

She quickly double checked and threw a bag over her shoulders, locking the door from the inside. “Ready! I-I think.” Alphys stammered but still looked fairly confident. 

Sans held out a hand, which she took with both of hers, gripping on tight. In the blink of an eye they were stood in Waterfall, deep in its interior. The small reptilian stumbled but was held steady by her grip on Sans’ hand. She looked around into the dark trees and moss-covered rock, trying to determine their location. 

“We’re just south of the biggest lake, right?” Alphys asked, pulling her lab coat closer around her neck, the extreme damp immediately irritating her golden scales. 

He nodded and hummed in confirmation. 

She turned decisively, “Then the deepest forest is east from here.” She announced confidently, pointing… west. 

“Almost Alph, the deepest forest is east from here.” Sans pointed in the opposite direction to her. Correcting her in a casual tone.  
Alphys shifted nervously, “Oh, s-sorry.”

He shrugged as they started their short walk, “Don’t blame you, it all looks the same around here. I don’t mean to shrub it in, as long as tree find our way in the end.” 

There were no paths down in these levels, the floor was lined in a thick squelchy moss, its dark green seemed to grow on everything down here, even enveloping the trees in its unpleasant clutches. It was awkward terrain the keep a constant pace, what looked like even ground would occasionally drop into a cold puddle or slide away from bare rock beneath it. The duo settled into a silence that was neither too awkward nor too relaxed. 

As they trudged on Sans stole a few glances towards his friend. His grin wavered at the sight of her soul. The little yellow heart looked almost like it was wrapped in a smog of darkness that distorted its cheerful colour. Littered with faint cracks which threatened to break apart her lifeforce.  
Alphys, Lv1, a lot of ExP, good reliable stats and guilt. So strong Sans could swear he could feel it suffocating his own lifeforce. 

Sans understood the circumstances in which she gained those Execution Points. A connection formed between two souls, the same kind as when monsters initiated battle but used as a kind of life support instead. Often used to save a dying patient, commonly taught to the staff of the Underground’s hospital, in the capital. Or in Alphys’ case, trying to save dying test subjects in her lab. 

However, regardless of good intention, like in battle, if the patient died, the one trying to help them would gain ExP.

For Alphys, this was one reason for the darkness over her soul. Sans couldn’t judge her… well, yes, he was kind of supposed to, but he couldn’t find her guilty for anything than desperately trying to find ways to potentially save every monster in the Underground; he would never blame her for that. Sans wished she would stop blaming herself. 

They reached a slightly less tree-clustered area, specks of light were able to filter through their ancient branches allowing the moss to flower in small patches. There was a good reason this place usually got no visitors. The monsters who lived down here were predators, savage less civilised creatures. These types resided all over the Underground- Snowdin’s forest, within Hotland’s lava, even some who lived in the cracks around the Core who fed off the radiation the powerplant dumped. Waterfall however marked the deepest park of the cavern, the least hospitable part of the Underground. 

No sign of any other life yet, no sign that the moss around them had ever been disturbed at all before the both of them walked through. Though as his friend spotted a glowing nest of tiny stones and went to investigate, Sans didn’t let it distract him from his careful watch of the forest. 

Alphys began to search between the roots of the trees for the gems. “S-so you been doing ok lately?”

“Yeah I guess, just-.” His quiet answer was cut off.

“Cuz you haven’t been calling in.” She spoke quickly. “And you’re jokes are more forced than usual and your eyes are doing that thing they do when you haven’t been sleeping.” She interrupted quickly, glancing back at Sans who kept his expression hopefully unreadable.

A few good long seconds of silence fell between them before Sans finally replied. “Alph, your chilling me down to the bone, heh. Lack of sunlight got me down, I guess? So, what are these rocks for?”

“You r-really want to just change the subject like that?” She sighed and turned back towards her work. “I get concerned y-you know, you feel so cold”.  
Oh hell, he didn’t know what to say now. Was it possible to drop the subject here? He supposed he could be tactful, Sans had no issue talking about problems, he just despised talking about how they affected him personally. She wasn’t his psychiatrist. 

He inwardly sighed. “There’ve been more Resets.” He ground out from between his teeth. 

The skeleton used to tell Alphys about a new Reset every time it happened, they’d had a conversation almost the same as this, many times. It became pointless, when she forgot most times. He settled for telling her at the end of ‘reload cycles’ as he started calling them. The Flower had had many of those. 

Alphys didn’t turn back as she answered, “I guessed so, I can kinda tell from you. You have these sort of… relapses. So, pleases be honest with me, Sans. W-was it Flowey this time?" She spoke in a low voice, careful not to alert any unwanted guests. 

Now Sans didn’t know what to feel more uncomfortable about, telling her the specifics of what the human had done or her referring to his condition in their aftermath as ‘relapses’. He could admit he felt a bit lost and took time to regather himself from these time jumps and re-runs. Hearing it phrased that way shook him.

“No not Flowey, it was that human who fell down here. Actually, Flowey seemed to lose the power completely, I’m not sure he could have died if he had that power at all. Like the human’s determination was stronger and overrode Floweys.” Sans said.

His lizard friend slowly looked up and turned to face him once more, processing what he said. “The human. I watched them through the cameras in my lab. It was like they knew where every monster was and what everyone would do. They had this look like nothing could phase them, like everything we threw at them was… easy”. 

Sans gave a short burst of laughter “Still can’t believe the Weed is dead, only found out this morning!” 

She looked just as astonished by this news as he did. “Maybe… maybe there can only be one anomaly active in a timeline and when a stronger one comes along, it deletes the other’s power? Takes their power?” They both stood in silent thought. “A strong determined human soul, a pure unlimited power source against a soulless lab-made replica.” She mused.

“Depends what you mean by soulless.” Sans laughed again, without humour. 

She watched his reaction carefully for a moment before asking, “How many times did they Reset? D-did they hurt anyone?” 

Sans’ magic gave an uncomfortable squirm, it prickled around his ribs and left him with a tingly numbness. He tried to calm it, not wanting Alphys to feel uncomfortable. A headache quickly took hold. Withdrawing his hands from his pockets he realised he wasn’t exactly being very helpful in collecting these crystals. Carefully willing his magic to calm he started to pick the tiny illuminous rocks from where they leeched from a tree root. It wasn’t until she spoke again that he realised he had forgotten she asked him a question. 

“They killed people, didn’t they?” Came her voice from behind him, hiding none of her worry. “Did they kill Undyne o-or M-Mettaton?” 

One of the little stones fell through his fingers, which he noticed were trembling. Maybe assuming he could cope with this discussion topic was incorrect, completely incorrect. How stupid of him. 

Alphys continued, “They hurt your brother too, didn’t they? Did- did they kill you, Sans?” She startled as she turned to see all light gone from his sockets. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, its ok now, w-we’re all fine! Remember?” The yellow monster grinned sheepishly.

Why was she doing this? How long had his breath been coming in ragged gasps? Feeling a tug on his sleeve the other monster motioned him to sit beside her on one of the chunky tree roots. Sans shook his head, which now hummed in a dull ache. 

Refusing the seat, he chose instead to lean against the mossy trunk. The minutes passed in silence and slowly, magic settling, dizziness passing. He seemed to regain a tight control over himself once more. The Royal Scientist sat in thought, processing what she had been told (or rather, hadn’t but could take a pretty hard guess). Occasionally glancing up to her friend, she made little movements as if having an intense debate whether reaching out and patting him on the shoulder would be a reasonable thing to do between friends. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed it.” Her big apologetic eyes were magnified by her glasses, making the lizard monster look like a weird yellow puppy. 

Sans managed a small laugh, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. The kid’s Resets weren’t so bad as Floweys.” There was truth to the statement, though he hadn’t sat down to properly compare them piece for piece. 

It was Alphys’ turn to look tearful as she mumbled more apologies. 

“Really, its ok, I’m used to it. Do you need any more stones? I don’t know about you but this place is giving off an icy reception and seriously needs to chill out… In other words, I’m freezing cold and I bet you are too.” He stood to face her and held out a hand, which she met and was pulled to her feet. 

Alphys finally managed a smile as she counted what was in her bag. “O-ok, I could actually do with a few more.” She said as she fixed him with a grateful smile and softer more content eyes. 

The pair continued deeper into the forested area until they found more of the shining stones. The silence between them was surprisingly much more comfortable than their journey in. Alphys remained deep in thought while Sans took to listening out for approaching monsters. The skeleton went back to wondering around the trees like the last ten minuets hadn’t happened. He berated himself for loosing his cool in front of Alphys, she needed strong people around her, not someone who breaks down at the mention of something that technically never happened. She had by far, enough on her plate without worrying about him too. The Royal Scientist had been thrown the task of breaking the barrier and saving everyone, and yet she was still waking up in the morning and trying. He had no responsibility of the sort and had all but given up. It made him fell extremely selfish.  
He caught her making sideways glances his way, Sans guessed she wanted to ask something but was afraid of upsetting him again. Not letting anything catch him off guard again, he asked “Whats on ya mind, Alph?”

After momentarily hesitating, she asked, “Its just t-the human, sure they didn’t seem too talkative. B-but I walked with them for a while, they didn’t attack a single monster. I-its just hard to believe…” 

Sans shrugged, “Well I guess to the anomaly its all a bit of a game really.” It hadn’t been the answer she was looking for but seemed to accept it regardless. 

“I think…” She paused double checking her thoughts, “I think I need Flowey’s dust. Do you know i-if they still have it?”  
“At the castle ready for collection, as far as I know. I don’t think anyone is running to claim it.” He chuckled, knowing it was exactly what the damn weed deserved. “Want me to pick them up for you tomorrow?” 

“O-oh, that would be wonderful if you d-don’t mind. I’m so b-busy at the moment.” She looked thrilled at his offer. 

The lizard stared off into the trees just passed him. Heh, her aversion to eye contact longer then three seconds was quite amusing. “Nah, I never-,”

“Shhh!” They stood in silence. Sans stood completely still. He followed her eyes, she hadn’t been avoiding his gaze, she had spotted something. A tension gripped every one of his bones and he became extremely aware of a soft rustling behind him. 

She fastened her collection inside her bag and motioned for him to follow as she silently stepped behind the trunk of a tree. Sans followed without hesitation. He turned at the first opportunity and saw… Nothing there?

There sounded rustling without an identifiable source. The two monsters seemed to become aware simultaneously that the tree they hid behind offered very little cover at all. They both shuffled across the mossy ground to a better hiding spot.

More excitable rustling followed them as well as the unnerving sound of indistinct whispering that seemed to emanate from empty air. White grass-like shoots sprouted across the clearing, their contrasting colour made them almost seem bioluminescent in their present surrounding. Silently, they unfurled into many strands. 

Sans, who had very little knowledge of the creatures who lurked in these depths, turned a questioning look to Alphys. She shrugged also none the wiser to this strange presence. Both watched wide eyed and unmoving as the white sprouts moved outwards, towards their feet. The whispering seemed to hover over them. 

“Don’t move.” Alphys breathed. She hunched low to the ground, closely observing the trees around them while Sans stood ridged. Taking in as much of the scene as he could, the anticipation of an unknown threat made his hands grip firmly at the material inside his pockets. Magic bubbling aggressively. 

The sprouts neared them, reaching Alphys first. Outwardly she was perfectly calm, not flinching away as several curled around her feet, staying close as if they could feel her body heat. White shoots had almost entirely covered the clearing enough that it looked like snowfall. They waved gently in a breeze that didn’t exist. The whispers built in number and volume.

Sans jumped back as movement caught his eye. He had narrowly missed a few exploring strands. He found his back against the trunk of their closest tree. 

Alphys shot her head towards him, “Don’t m-move!” she hissed barely audibly through her teeth. 

The words went seemingly unheard as flitted about the base of the tree, its slippery surface pushing him back towards the advancing strands as his slippers failed to grip the damp roots. Regretting knowing more about what lurked in these depths, he tried to grasp a passageway with his magic, a shortcut. Nothing. Was this even a monster, he couldn’t see the soul of some invisible threat floating around? He had to do something, they were going to get him. The things on Alphys were creeping up to her knees now. 

Coming back into arms reach of his friend, Alphys grabbed him by the back of the jacket to steady him, holding Sans firm. He could hear her chanting a very soft “dontmovedontmovedontmove” just behind his head. It wasn’t hurting her, wasn’t even holding her- just marking out where she was like it was feeling out it’s surroundings. He struggled to slow his breathing, trying with all his might to think of an escape from a foe who seemed to be everywhere and yet nowhere. The whispers humming eerily together in an ominous chorus. 

The feeling of something winding its way around his ankle bones made Sans gasp and pull his leg away. Immediately the white tendrils burst into life stretching and wrapping together and in less than a second, they had his leg trapped in a death grip. 

Alphys couldn’t keep a hold of him as he attempted to jolt forwards. More strange vines snapping onto him like a snake constricting its struggling prey.

“DON’T MOVE” Alphys hissed in the most threatening tone Sans had probably ever heard her use. It was enough to shake him from his panicked state for long enough that he gained his balance and froze. The vines did also. They seemed to match his speed of movement. He hadn’t realised his magic had boiled over so much until he saw it hovering above the ground around him manifesting as long thin bones. He regained a hold of his magic but did not dispel the bones. 

The feeling of the tendrils squirming made his soul quiver nervously. They pressed between his bones into the tiny gaps of his knee joints. As the lights of his eyes fell upon the strange appendages and for a second, he saw them as the green thorny roots of Flowey. 

Alphys, careful not to disturb her footing, grasped a large loose tree branch. She flung it in a heavy ark into the middle of the clearing. It whipped up the untouched feelers on the ground before it came thudding down nearly ten feet from them. Instantaneously it was overtaken by wrapping tendrils. The unsettling snaps made Alphys yelp as the sturdy wood was crushed to splinters. 

“Don’t move.” He heard her plead again in a shaky breath. “No moving, no magic.”

Nodding and breathing deeply, Sans contemplated that moving was nearly impossible anyway. His slippers couldn’t be seen through the structure curling around his legs and waist. The ends of the strands hooked outwards ready to strike if he attempted another escape and if he tried that, he risked being crushed. 

The incoherent whispers were getting more excited, escalating into shouts and screams which echoed into the two small monster’s heads. The sensation was dizzying, though that could also be contributed to terror. 

Their thoughts did not have chance to catch up with their progressively dreadful situation as the landscape began to shift. Large pools of tendrils rose together tangled and twisted as they grew to form a disturbing, round, six foot tall body. Coated in the same white shoots which covered the ground it stood on two short stumpy legs and possessed no arms, neck or anything that resembled a head. 

It was not alone as more identical monsters formed around it. Despite filling the clearing, they seemed to collect most of what was covering the ground in order to grow to their full size, making large safe patches reappear and, much to his delight, the tendrils ensnaring Sans, loosened and withdrew slightly back down his leg. 

The monsters trudged closer, towering over the much smaller two. There stood a whole six of them, circling the entire clearing. 

Alphys’ golden scales clacked together as she turned to Sans with a fearful expression, which he met with one of icy coldness. Now these beings had revealed themselves, this was now a threat he could deal with, he hoped. “Alph, you need to run back to where we came from,” he nodded in the direction they had arrived from. “I can’t get a shortcut from here, ‘specially not with these things around me.” He held her gaze and spoke slowly, ignorant of the towering figures slowly marching forwards. “But, I think I can get out if you divert their attention.” He hoped she didn’t think he was using her as bait. “Ok?”

The tension of the situation was killing him but beyond that his fear was ebbing away. This was now just another fight.

She stared into his dark eye sockets for a few long seconds after he finished talking before replying with a shaky nod. The lizard opened her mouth but was cut off by a looming shadow right beside her. 

The large monsters were not expecting the sudden burst of energy as the Scientist’s magic formed a shining energy pellet which pinged through the air at a speed like lightening, smashed into the centre of the furthest creature away before she broke into a dash. Sprinting on all fours at a speed no one could have expected from Alphys, she circled the battle and left in less than a heartbeat. The monster’s horrible whispers and shouts became like a cacophony of screams within an echo chamber. Two lumbered after their escaping prey, they would never catch her. They also seemed quite unsure where exactly she had gone, like they tried to remember the path of a lightening bolt several minutes after seeing it.

The tendrils around him had retracted no further but had flinched when Alphy’s attack had struck the large monster. Putting this theory to the test, Sans beckoned the already formed magic, making a long row of bone attacks. He unleased the projectiles which flew through the air and three out of the four monsters. The all stumbled back, screaming into the air. The substance holding him in place instantly withdrew back to the nearest monster who used the material to repair itself. It knocked the creatures back, stunning them momentarily, but that was about it.

As soon as he was free from their hold, Sans steadied himself and gently sidestepped out of their line of sight, what he hoped was silently. The monsters called to each other in clicking sounds and all four simultaneously shuddered, bent forwards and with a scream so loud Sans had to clamp his hands around his skull, started to split open. 

The skeleton frowned in disgust as their bodies twisted. A sound like bones snapping bounced around the trees. A sick feeling bubbled beneath their aggressor’s ribs as his magic curled uncomfortably. The sound bought back unwanted flashes of past Resets with the Flower. 

Long mouth-like orifices opened in a split behind their ‘head’ to just above their legs, splitting them in half to form a gigantic mouth covered in row upon row of teeth. 

He suddenly felt desperately sick. His hands shook. They were surrounding him again, recovering from whatever this transformation was and raring to catch him. 

‘No’. The thought was defiant and resounded louder than the screaming and snapping of bone. No, today had been a good day and he had already humiliated himself once in front of Alphys. 

Opening his eyes and fixing his smile he pulled both his soul and theirs into view. If they were all going to fight like idiots, he would be damned if he didn’t do it properly. They paused and the ghosting feeling of them checking his stats crept passed. He didn’t bother to check theirs. 

He waited for them to respond with the first hit, as was fair, since he initiated the battle. He would play fair, for now. Unfurling his magic, the air around him noticeably chilled until a mist rose around them. They paused, having checked his Atk, Def, Lv and, ExP, one backed off and crept slowly into the dark trees to flee the fight. Whispers and the occasional shout had since replaced the relentless screaming. Sans chuckled, placing his hands on his hips. “What? Seen something you don’t like? Can’t imagine what.” He said in a cheery voice. 

The closest monster lurched towards him, its grotesque mouth widening. Magic materialising in response, a wall of shining white bones sprang from the ground, colliding with the creature and forming a protective wall from around Sans’ left side. A few chunks were ripped out of the monster as it stumbled off balance and was blocked from biting him. It squirmed pathetically as it struggled to right itself. 

The furthest monster stood nearly twenty feet away, with a horrid gurgle it shot its own sharp murky projectiles. They missed him in a surprisingly well aimed attack for something he strongly suspected was blind. 

In a grasping motion, the offender’s soul was turned blue and thrust into the air as high and forcefully as San’s agitated magic would allow. The white ‘furred’ creature screamed as it was thrust into the canopy of the ancient trees then thrown back down with a force so great that it fell at nearly twice the speed it naturally should have done. It hit the earth with a sickening crunch. Sans tutted to himself, he had been aiming for it to fall on it’s nearby friend. Either way, it didn’t look like it was getting back up for a while. 

A pain across his outstretched arm brought his attention back to the one on his left who had managed to pick itself up and was now firing projectiles as it made a move to stalk around the back of him. 

Firing off a torrent of bones, the thing was knocked off its feet again and then impaled into the ground, for good measure. A scuffle and gurgle behind him. Sans turned just in time to see the monster he had not yet attacked lunge forward, its mouth splitting open so wide its guts may have fallen out. It was close enough to see the many rows of teeth and the smell of its putrid breath made him react faster than his reflexes thought possible. 

Grasping its soul and throwing it off course, it rolled and recovered, going back in for another bite. A flurry of bones, which did very little. Tendrils erupting from the floor around him, encasing Sans from the waist down, unable to move. How annoying. These things were like fungus, or something mildly plant-based, at least. 

Magic burning strong enough that it audibly crackled around him, and a familiar hot sensation around his left eye, the skeleton brought into existence his most powerful weapon. A large beast-like skull flared into life beside him, a low kreening sound hummed through the trees. 

“I would prefer if you didn’t.” Then he let loose the fiery blast, it lit up what could have been most of the forest. When the light cleared, nothing but a charred stain remained of the creature. 

Sans slowly turned back to the last remaining pinned monster. “Any second thoughts about-!” 

It had pulled itself off from the bones that held it down, ripping large chunks from its body. Sans was tied to the spot by snake-like appendages. No escape, he braced for the impact. 

Yellow bolts burst from the corner of his vision and struck faster than thunder. The creature was knocked off course, colliding with him with nowhere near the impact it should have done. Sans was still knocked onto his back, the tendrils snapping painfully around his legs as they were forcibly wrenched away by the impact. 

More electric yellow flashes and the crushing force vanished replaced by a small yellow hand appearing in his vision. 

Alphys leaned over him with a worried look. Sans accepted her help onto his feet, turning quickly before their foe could recover and summoning yet another blaster weapon. Alphys’ gasp from behind him sounded incredibly distant as the temperature dipped, as if the horrific skull was powered by the very heat around them. Again, the bright hot beam burst forth. The monsters scream stopped less than a second into the assault, though the powerful beam of energy didn’t cease for a good five after that. 

Neither moved, Sans breathed deeply. He noticed the creature who had been thrown into the floor must have died from the impact as it slowly turned to dust. They were left in silence. He tucked his soul away once again unreadable.

Sans turned to her with a thumbs up. “Thanks for the save there, Alph. I’d be dust a pile o’ bones if you hadn’t shown up.”  
Alphys was panting hard with her glasses askew. “A-are you ok?” She said, ignoring his words. “I lost the ones who chased me, I-I don’t t-think they’re following us.”

“S-ok, Alph.” Sans said.

“B-but I’m not important, you had to fight those all b-by yourself.” 

“Alph.” He said calmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

She pulled away reflexively, intaking a sharp breath. A few gradually calming breaths later and Alphys looked better. She had been running flat out in a long circle from where Sans fought, mud covered her palms and the sleeves of her coat while her short claws were caked in dark green moss.

When it tried to retract, Alphys snatched up Sans’ arm. “O-oh they hurt you! Are y-you ok? Hold still, its bleeding a little. They get you a-anywhere else? Hey, I said hold still!” The creature’s projectile had chipped the bone away from a small area of his left arm and left a graze. Alphys examined his arm and felt for something inside her lab coat to clean it, though she only succeeded in wiping more mud over herself. She looked like a mother whose child had fallen over while playing. 

Sans couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction, “Seriously, its just a scratch. I’m sure my bro’s cooking has done worse to me than those guys.” 

She finally took a step back, though still carefully looked him over for any other injuries. “Are you sure you are ok though, I know you are,” she gestured from his head to feet, “b-but you know? You killed them, you had to kill three of them.” 

He steadily read her gaze. He spoke after a decent pause. “I’m not sure they would listen to reason, didn’t really have much choice. They didn’t seem like very fungi’s to me.” He knew he should feel at least some remorse for these things, that he had crushed and vaporised. Feel some guilt for not even trying to calm the situation or make them flee. Disgust with himself for taking their ExP, growing stronger in their death. In truth, he felt nothing. 

“You didn’t get any of their ExP, did you?” Asked Sans.

Alphys shook her head, exhaling in clear relief. 

“Good. Sorry you had to see me,” He made finger guns towards one of the scorch marks across the floor and made a quiet “pow” sound. How tactless.

Her cheeks rose in a humourless painfully awkward laugh. “I guess they do have as much power as we planned, huh?” She motioned to the space in the air where the disembodied blaster skull had hovered.

“Well the human didn’t like um’, so yeah, they work.” Sans shrugged. 

He dug into his pockets and handed her his collected stones. She took them with a pleased look and added them to her stack of marble sized crystals. “That’s all I need, more than enough for the tests I have planned.” She chirped gratefully. 

Nodding, Sans asked, “Don’t suppose you have a jar? Container or something?” Getting an idea.

Rummaging around in another side pocket, she pulled out three decently sized test tubes. “I always know I would need these at some point, might have taken a f-few years before they actually came in handy but here we are! T-they ok?”

Sans thanked her and turned towards the monster who had been made to fall to its death. It had now completely turned to thick grey dust. Alphys watched behind him as Sans uncorked each one and by hand and poured in as much ash as would fit. He shoved them into his now vacant pocket and dusted his hands off on his shorts. Alphys said nothing and kept her expression non-judgmental, Sans knew she must have been quietly horrified with this display of disrespect. 

“Shall we go home then, I’m bone tired?” 

Silence followed them as they made their way back. Alphys took to explaining how she wanted to use power storing crystals to substitute for the human souls they needed to break the barrier. The talk kept them occupied and Alphys seemed excited that her friend was able understand the task enough to ask questions regarding the details of the experiment. They chatted about mutual friends, Alphys excitedly recounted how thanks to the Queens orders, she was getting to spend more time with Undyne, who was a dear, very protective friend. 

Thankfully, nothing tried to eat them on their return. 

“There’s a path from here.” Sans finally said, holding his hand out for her once more. They warped back through the shortcut and in a blink, they stood inside her lab once more. The light stung their eyes and gave them both a clear glimpse of just how filthy they had gotten. Alphys’ white lab coat was splashed with mud and grime. Sans didn’t look much better, strange residue clung to him where the strange tendrils had grabbed and his slippers… Sans thought they looked worse than the remains of the monsters he’d just dusted. 

Alphys sighed in relief, “Umm, thanks f-for helping me. You didn’t have to- I know that’s a silly thing to s-say now that it’s happened.” 

Sans shrugged, his grin clear under the bright lights, “Don’t mention it. It gave me something for my lazy bones to do. Heh.”

Frowning she mused, “…How can you be so calm after that we could have- you almost died.” As if realising she had said something offensive, the lizard waved her hands about. “Sorry sorry!” 

There was guilt behind her eyes, something lingered, unsaid. Sans knew she blamed herself for what had happened tonight. He wanted to correct her, let her know that he hadn’t saved anyone. Instead, he dismissed her statement with a half-hearted wave. Maybe he would be bolder in another Reset.  
She thrust one of the stones into his hand, “Go on, take this as a thank you. They’re pretty powerful, if you know how to use them.”

“Oh thanks, I keep telling Papyrus our pet rock needs a companion, now he has no excuses.” In the light it shone an amber colour and sat as a small perfectly smooth oval shape. 

“D-do you, urr, wanna come in? I’ve got noodles and anime?” 

“Next time, Alph. You should invite Papyrus though, he’d love that kinda thing.” He said.

The golden yellow monster tilted her head, “You think so?”

“I know so.” Sans stated. “Now I gotta get back, I think he might be upset, Flowey was his friend and all. I’ll remember to pick up his dust for you tomorrow.” 

She looked impossibly relieved, “Yeah, thanks again for offering. I’m kinda glad you did, Queen Toriel scares me a little.” 

He shrugged, “Heh, don’t worry, it gives me a reason to get my lazy butt out of bed. Now, Papyrus, he loves his morning jog. He keeps nagging me to go with him but I just tell him I wasn’t built to skele-run.”

The joke pays off as she gives an amused snort before he turns to leave. 

Her voice catches him at the door, “Before you go- umm, I.. I j-just gotta ask. How many times have we done that, gone down to Waterfall? How many times did you tell me about the human’s Resets? Sorry.” She quivers.

Sans replied with a reassuring smile, “I told you about the kid… three times now, I think. All that just now though, that was actually all for the first time. So urr, thanks for the new experience.” He said giving her a thumbs up. 

She nods but says nothing. Now its Sans turn to pause as he goes to close the door behind him. “Before I forget to tell you. The kid, the human, they never hurt you, ever, at all I don’t think. I think they must have liked you a lot.” 

Alphys looked shocked and her expression quickly changed to gratitude. “Really? Wow…” She paused in thought for a few seconds but shook out of it when she saw him still standing in the doorway, “Thanks again, Sans. Now go make sure your brother is ok”. She looked genuinely touched by his comment, the flash of happiness was the most intense he had felt from her magic in a while. 

“Night, Alph,” He said finally shutting her door.  
The shortcut he took led to the chilly area where Snowdin met Waterfall. The distant sound of running water was wonderfully calming. It was now late at night, he had been off with the Royal Scientist for longer than it felt. He chose to walk back home from here. It was easier to think outside than cooped up in his messy room. 

His knee ached as he walked. When that monster had smashed into him while his legs were tied to the ground, it must have knocked something in his knee joint askew. He suspected adrenaline had stopped him feeling it until now. Rubbing at his arm, that stung now too, the graze a little larger than what he had noticed earlier. Oh well. Sans rolled his eyes at his own antics. He’d get killed one of these days acting like that.  
Trudging alone through the tunnel his mind unpacked today’s events. There had been a strange foreboding feeling which had clung to his soul since the Guard’s meeting earlier. 

The human had made their way through the Underground without harming anyone they didn’t need to, showing mercy and detachment to all those they met; after they had previously killed all who opposed them, including any innocents they got their hands on. 

They killed Flowey, the only other known anomaly capable of distorting time, someone they had never killed before. 

Sans remembered meeting them outside the Ruins, not knowing what to expect, for their last encounter had been a very long fight to the death in the Judgment Hall. The kid, however had shot him a sideways glance filled with tired boredom and a surprising lack of determination. They walked right passed him, neither had said a word. 

If lack of impact had been what they were going for, they certainly achieved it. Sans didn’t know what they did exactly, but for the first of the kids Resets, it looked like life would continue as normal as could be in the Underground, minus some small changes. 

No odd appointments in the place of dead royalty, no Undyne screaming bloody murder, Alphys hadn’t ‘disappeared’ into thin air. 

If these signs were anything to go by, the kid wasn’t coming back. ‘I gave them a damn good reason not to try anything else stupid’, He though to himself, musing over their time spent together in the Judgment Hall.

The very idea sounded like a dream come true. He wanted to live like a normal monster, he wanted to forget, leave it all behind in the hazy mist that memories become after a while. 

His knee was really starting to be a pain, he ignored it and trudged through the snow. Silhouettes of dark buildings lay some way ahead. The mounds of materials for constructing new lodgings sat sleeping. He remembered that his quiet town was preparing to receive many new residents. 

What if something happened, someone he cared for got hurt, what if he failed to keep Alphys together like he had neglected to do on so many Resets. What if he did something stupid and they all thought he was crazy or he lost control and hurt someone, someone important. 

Well if this timeline was now set, working on some new jokes would need to be a priority. 

He would have to start living like a ‘normal monster’, not do things that made people call him weird. Not give into odd or stupid impulses.  
During the times he knew would be overwritten, he had made some… questionable decisions and done a few crazy things. The kind that seem perfectly reasonable at the time but you regret them the next morning. The kind of things Flowey would mock him mercilessly for, if he found out.  
Hopefully any potential blackmail information had died with Flowey. 

His thoughts broke out of their dark spiral by his bad leg getting angrier every step it took. 

With a sigh, Sans took a shortcut the rest of the way to his house. It was much later than he had intended to return, most residents snuggled into their homes though a few silhouettes could be seen entering and leaving the warm glow of Grillby’s bar. Sans trudged through the door of his house and closed it quietly behind him.

His snowy shoes dragged across the carpet, Sans grabbed an armful of snacks and trudged upstairs. Papyrus had locked himself in his room, as he did when he was upset. Sans knew he should at least ask his brother whether he was ok but his muddied clothes and the foul smell that still clung to him would raise questions. The last thing he wanted was to explain his earlier altercation. A day or two and Papyrus would be back in good spirits, nothing kept him down for long. 

Crappy excuse but he knew what was best, right?

Journal and snacks in tow, the skeleton crashed onto his mattress. Today had brought about new and unexpected events and he aimed to record them all until sleep inevitably dragged him away. 

 

A/n- Forgot previously to thank my best dude Jack for beta reading this and being wonderfully honest and challenging me to do better.  
Thanks to those who kudos and comment, you rock! If you stick around, try to solve the mystery, the clues start showing up right from Ch1, so be on the lookout! XD


	3. Fool's Hope

_He remembered how the human had left them before._

_He remembered Undyne in pieces and looking for someone to blame. He remembered her finding Alphys’ dust several days later, her final friend gone. He remembered her in the throne room- her throne room, screaming at him while he stood silent. Remembered her grabbing and shaking him by the shoulders, unrelenting. Him responding by turning her soul blue and throwing her hard against the wall, hitting it with a crack. He remembered warping out immediately to his house and not leaving his bed until the Reset took them._

Sans woke with a pounding headache after a night of constant waking, bouncing from dream to dream. The rest seemed to have done some good for his leg, whatever had shaken it had not been any real damage. It felt fine this morning.

Oh, he had gone to bed in his blue hoody. It was still covered in grime with the faint smell of dust and burning… Oh yeah, from those gross waterfall creatures. It was in serious need of a wash. It made him shrink back under the covers, ready to call the day a failure and just try again tomorrow.  
A monumental amount of effort and self-control made him sit up and eventually get moving.

Some time later Sans made his way down the staircase, a bundle of yesterday’s swampy clothes stuffed under his arm along with his contaminated sheets. He entered a surprisingly dark living room, with the curtains drawn. The only light came from the booming TV, which illuminated Papyrus’s prone figure lying on the sofa. 

“Hey bro.” Sans called over the din of the TV. He crossed the room, dumping his clothes in the wash (including his slippers, which were unrecognisable), throwing in triple the amount of flower-scented laundry sauce normally used and turning the machine up ten degrees hotter than it normally ran at. 

Realising his brother had not responded, Sans stuck his head out of the kitchen. “Hey, you ok there, bro?” Again, he didn’t get any reply. Sans moved to their old ratty sofa, to the other side of where his brother lay. 

“Can I sit down?” Papyrus shuffled his feet in closer to himself to give Sans more room. Settling onto the slightly ripped, slightly burnt cushion he grabbed the remote and turned the TV from deafening to bearable. 

The tall skeleton did not look at his brother, he just stared into the screen. Sans doubted he was really taking in the programme, just holding onto it as a distraction. 

“Sorry I got home so late.” Sans muttered. 

Papyrus shrugged but made no other movement. A full minute passed in the dark room.

“I knew Flowey too.” Sans tried softly. This immediately got a response as his younger brother looked up at him with big watery eyes.

“You did?” His voice was small and croaky. 

“Sure I did. Little yellow guy?” Papyrus nodded looking more alive now. “Well since no ones collected him yet. We can’t _leaf_ him there so I’m going to the castle later to collect his dust. You can bury him, or something.”

“You are?” Papyrus said, finding his voice a bit more. “Oh, thank you, Sans!” In less than a second, from a position which he could have sworn was impossible, Papyrus launched himself up and threw Sans into a tight hug. “We can give him a little ceremony; wouldn’t that be nice?” 

Sans’ grimace was thankfully hidden within the tight hug, “Yeah, I can’t wait, bro.”

They watched to the end of Mettaton’s show before slowly getting up and letting some light into the room. Breakfast spaghetti cheered Papyrus up the most, a healthy meal of pasta noodles swimming in sticky porridge. Delightfully disgusting!

When Sans had finally left, Papyrus had cheered up considerably and had gone out for a jog. Preferring to take the route with the least number of steps, Sans took a shortcut to the most convenient place in the Castle. 

 

He appeared like a ghost in the shadowy end of Judgement Hall. Silence greeted him. There had been no need to travel here for the last few weeks, since the kid had last been here. In fact, the human had been his last visitor here. 

It still felt strange, remembering how long he must have been stuck in the same close loop of ‘Save Reload Save Reload…’ as the human tried so desperately to end him, like they had done to every other monster that day. ‘Day’, it had felt more like a year.

He remembered the long fight. The kid had Reloaded after dying so many times that the timeline itself was slowly splintering. Odd things occurring, aspects not Resetting correctly, ghoulish figures which seemed to drip though the cracks in the stonework and made his head burn, permanent scars from a breaking timeline. 

Sans inspected the rooms structure. There were still visible cracks here and there. Things which should have Reset along with the human. He moved on.

Finding no fault in the magical stones which lined the hall’s entrance he tested them, walking through their invisible doorway. Shuddering, he felt his magic give a pull as the proximity crystals linked to his soul, informing him that someone had passed the threshold of the hall. 

Contented that all was as well as it was going to be, he made his way to where he hoped to find Toriel. 

He gave a soft tap on the sturdy wood. “Knock knock.” He said.

“Whos there?” Came a call from inside, then before he could continue, heard her hurry to the door and fling it wide open. A wonderful look of recognition on her face. The Queen shook his hand in an official greeting before immediately pulling the skeleton into a crushing hug. They made their greetings, the de ja vu he felt was overwhelming, they had been here so many times previously. The lady behind the door and her joking friend united in the flesh for the first time, where they laughed and chatted like old friends. Of cause, for Sans, this was a reunion of such he had been through a few too many times now. For the new Queen, however, seeing her hidden friend for the first time was a fantastic surprise; she had recognised his voice immediately. 

They sat chatting about all sorts over the lunch they spent together, Toriel’s baking was always wonderful. The conversation drifted to the Queens stresses and difficulties of taking back the rule over the Underground after so many years wilfully secluded in the Ruins. Gaining the people’s approval, difficulties coming to an agreement with Undyne (who she still remembered as a fiery little girl who picked fights proclaiming justice against playground bullies), the odd little Royal Scientist who had burst into tears for seemingly no reason half way through their meeting and finally her frustration in trying to find information on the current Royal Judge. Apparently Asgore, the only monster who was to know the Judge’s identity, had failed to store the information anywhere in the event that a successor to the throne needed it. 

“You could just go into the hall and ask um’. Sure, they wouldn’t mind.” Sans winked. 

Toriel scoffed, “I’m not breaking code like that for that silly man’s lack of organisation!” She had stated. 

Sans shrugged. It took every bit of self-control to not bust out laughing.

She continued, “I mean, I’m thinking of just visiting every monster in the Underground and asking directly if its them.” She threw her hands dramatically, laughing at the ridiculousness despite her clear frustration. “You know what, maybe I will! Sans, are you the Judge?” Her tone drenched in sarcasm. 

He burst out laughing, as did she. Toriel nearly missed his reply. “Urr, yeah.” He said between laughs.

There were a few good seconds that the kitchen was filled with the Queen’s laughter before it abruptly stopped in a second. “W-what did you say?”

“Guess who.” Sans snorted.

A few more minutes of bewildered ‘Are you sure’s’ punctuated by Sans’ jokes and the situation seemed to settle. 

“Well that was convenient, I guess my plan technically worked then.” Toriel said, finishing her tea. 

Sans was about to leave when he remembered what it was he came for in the first place. The Queen was more than happy to hand over Flowey’s dust, which was contained in an elaborately made glass jar. She wished Papyrus the best for the little ceremony he apparently was holding and Sans went on his way. 

 

Back in Snowdin, the house was quiet. Sans made his way to the back of their house, through the outhouse door, down the long concrete steps and into his back-garden lab. There he emptied Flowey’s remains into a few Tupperware boxes he found in the kitchen. He retrieved the sizable vials of containing the strange monster’s dust from yesterday’s ambush. Placing the ashes of the walking mouthed fungi monster into Flowey’s original jar, he tightened the lid. It didn’t quite fill the jar exactly, like Flowey’s had but Papyrus wouldn’t notice. The dust looked very similar. 

Papyrus returned to the house early afternoon, Sans greeted him from the sofa where he pointed to the jar of dust which sat on the table.   
“You actually got it, w-wow Sans.” He said, looking grateful. “Thank you.”

“Sure I did, bro. You thought about what you want to do with um’?”

“Of course I have! We will take them down by the edge of the forest, where we can scatter them around there. I’ve prepared some words for him, I hope you have too, Sans.” Papyrus grinned, despite looking like he would cry again at any minute. 

‘We’. Oh no. “Urr, I thought since you knew him best, that, you know, you might want to go alone. I only knew him in, well, passing.” A futile attempt, he knew. 

The tall skeleton gave him an encouraging look, “Don’t be silly Sans. I don’t think Flowey had many friends, so its super important you come too. You can’t have a funeral with just one person… Well two, technically.” He persisted. 

Good God, this would be painful. 

They trudged through the snow down the main (and only) road of Snowdin. Unfortunately, when Papyrus had said the ‘edge of the woods’ he hadn’t meant the trees just behind their house. They passed a few monsters they hadn’t seen before, who were inspecting the newly built lodgings which had been recently installed in the town. Thanks to over population in New Home and residents of the Underground suddenly remembering that quiet little Snowdin Town existed, there had been much interest among those looking for a move. They pointed out a monster with a diamond shaped head, a clearly husband and wife duo of bugs who stood tall and upright, a large quadruped monster who wore high heels on their front paws and an… egg? With four arms and two legs? Ok. 

They continued walking, much to San’s dismay, almost all the way to the entrance to the Ruins. Finally, Papyrus led them off the path down a small slippery gully into a close patch of trees. 

“This is where I met him most of the time, whenever I was down here- which I’m not very often, Flowey would come and say hi. It was almost like he knew when I would be here. Maybe it was fate which bought us together.” Papyrus finished airily. 

It made Sans stiffen slightly but he let his brother continue.   
“We used to tell each other everything. He may have acted a little, well, bizarre or… aggressive at times, Flowey was non the less, a good friend.”

‘How was he a good friend? What exactly did he ever do that made him a “good friend”?’ Was what Sans nearly spat. Whatever was in this so-called friendship, he hated. At least the weed hadn’t hurt his brother in this timeline, or so he hoped. He settled on a “Yeah.” Which made him sound like he hadn’t been listening.

“What about you, Sans?”

“Huh?”

“How did you and Flowey meet?” 

“Oh right. Well…” How _had_ they met? He seemed to recall something about the lab, Alphys was there and someone else. Someone tall and- the instant he fixed on the blurry figure in his mind a stabbing pain shot through his skull. He flinched, gasping. 

“Are you ok, brother?” Papyrus looked concerned. 

Sans looked at the ground confused. “Yeah thanks, sorry that was just the, urr, grief.” He tried to recall the thought that had just affected him so strangely, however he found he couldn’t. Like his mind had built a barrier around it. 

His brother patted him on the shoulder, “That’s understandable.” He said consolingly. 

He quickly tried to piece together a story for how he met the flower. “We met at Asgore’s birthday party a few years ago, you were a lot younger, remember?” 

“I do remember that! It was Alphys, right? Got really drunk sent home early. That was the first time I met her, good times. I don’t remember Flowey being there though. I can’t imagine him being one for parties.” Papyrus said frowning in thought. 

Crap, Sans would need to come up with something more convincing. “Oh, Flowey hadn’t really wanted to be there at all, you remember that big display of flowers? See, Asgore put that together himself and wanted to ask some of the plant monsters around if they thought the display was good.”

“But I don’t remember seeing any plant monsters there that day. I have a pretty good memory, don’t forget.” Papyrus probed. 

‘Too good’, Sans thought bitterly, trying to recover. “Well they didn’t stick around. Turns out that most plant monsters find floral displays offensive. I found Flowey outside when I went to get some fresh air. We just said hi and he left.”

‘We just said hi and he left’ was not much of an origin story, the skeleton realised Papyrus was waiting for an epic conclusion. Sans decided to oblige. “Few weeks later, I’m walking up to my sentry post when I hear a commotion. Its Doggo and Flowey… fightin’.” Papyrus gasped dramatically. “I have to rush in and talk them both out of it. Turns out it was all over somethin’ stupid. Doggo is fine but Flowey is pretty beat up. I use some of my magic to keep him going for a bit while I get him into town to be healed up. We talk a lot that day and become pretty good friends. End of the day he leaves, saying we’ll stay in touch.” 

His brother is in awe, _“You saved his life!_ Doggo can be so silly when he gets carried away, its lucky you were there! I had no idea you two were so close, to think the pair of you might have been the best of friends and I didn’t even know! No wonder he always talked about you in such a strange way, what an odd way to show affection.” 

Sans sweated, not meeting his brother’s eyes. Yes, ripping the limbs off of someone was Sans’ go to method of showing his love and appreciation for people, too. 

Which was worse, saying Sans had saved flowey’s life or calling them a ‘pair’? Flowey would be turning in his grave at this idea. Well, hehe, his tupperware boxes. 

Sans wanted this over as soon as possible, “Well, maybe not the best of friends but, heh, I knew the guy” He shrugged and kicked some snow from around his shoe. “You wanna start spreading him around then?” Why had he said it like that? Oh God. He bit back a laugh. This was all too surreal.   
Papyrus nodded sadly, he snuffled loudly and with shaky hands removed the cork from the beautiful jar. He felt the air for the light breeze. Tipping the jar, only the top layer of ash sprinkled out. The skeleton gave it a shake. He tipped it sideways. He shook harder. The dust wasn’t coming out.   
The stuff must have gotten damp at some point.   
Sans was finding the whole display highly amusing. “You-,” He had to stop himself laughing, “You need a butter knife for that?”

The tall monster tutted, shooting a scowl at his brother who was _not_ helping. Shaking with more force than someone would have thought necessary to free the dust.

Papyrus tossed his arms harder and -thunk! The whole jar’s worth of dust flopped to the ground at his feet. It sat sadly in the snow. Papyrus just stood staring at it in absolute disbelief. Sans’ shoulders shook with his barely contained laughter. “W-well. I was hoping it would be bit… nicer than that.” The tall skeleton said dumbly. 

Sans burst with laughter. He was doubled over, probably sounding hysterical. 

“Are you _laughing!?_ ” Yelped Papyrus, who unlike his brother, seemed to be barely containing his tears.

“Nah, just-,” He gasped, “r-really upset.” Sans attempted to rein in his laughter with long gasping breaths. He pointed up to his eyes which were defiantly watering. 

Stooping down to wrap him in a lanky hug, Papyrus’s eyes were watering too. Sans was pretty sure he was the only one laughing though. He did his best to comfort his distraught brother. 

A minute passed, Sans had nearly completely calmed by now and his brother seemed convinced enough to release him from the hug. 

Papyrus fished a folded bit of paper from the pocket in his shorts. He cleared his throat. Was this the speech he had prepared?   
“It’s hard to forget someone who gave you so much to remember.” Papyrus started “Because in the end, when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer, is not gonna make up for the fact that the only thing you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody you care about used to be.” He paused again. “No one on his deathbed ever said ‘I wish I had spent more time at my business’. The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” Papyrus was frowning as he read to the dark gray mound of dust, belonging to some random monster who had tried to kill Sans yesterday. 

“Are these from those quote pictures with the words on the ‘inspirational’ background? Did you get all these from Undernet, Papyrus?” Grinned Sans.

“Shh! Death is not the greatest loss in life, the greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live… It takes one word to make someone’s day, and one word to destroy someone’s life. Wait that one doesn’t really work. Umm, that’s all I got. Flowey, you were a really cool dude, even though… well.” He looked up, “Yeah, I’m done.”

“Nice one bro” Sans reached up to pat Papyrus’s back. “Now I’m kinda hungry, wanna stop off at Grillby’s?”

“But Sans, you haven’t said your speech yet. I know he was one of your best friends and you must be really really sad but if you don’t say it now, you’ll just bottle it up and be sadder later. Come on, please.” He said so softly and sadly that Sans couldn’t deny him. 

Ok, he would bite the bullet on this one but he would damn well do it his way. He straightened his shoulders and gave a fake sniff. “Dearest Flowey. He _planted_ so much joy in our souls, _stemming_ from him and all his goodness. We _rooted_ for him all the way as he _bushed_ passed all the problems in his life. _Weed_ speak to him once more if we could, alas, he is now part of that rainbow root- system in the sky. But he _leaves_ us with his memory, which we can share with others, _petal_ them about how cool he was. What a great _bud_.” He finished, scooping snow to cover the sad mound of dust with his foot.

“I’m not sure if that was the most incredible or most horrendous speech I’ve ever heard.” Papyrus said. Sans grinned up at him. “I was always under the impression he hated your jokes. Who knew. I’m sure he would have loved that Sans.” He saluted, “Your noble sacrifice for our king will not be in vein, Flowey, we will keep fighting for this world in your place. Goodbye, friend.” Sans winked at the substitute ‘Flowey’ and gave the mound the middle finger. Papyrus didn’t see “Now, shall we be off?”. They turned to leave. 

Sans felt great. It was like a final triumph over the flower. Almost like it had been Sans who had killed him. Sure, it was all very awkward and Papyrus would probably work it out when he finally reviewed the situation. Regardless, he felt better than he had in some time, nothing else today could burst the little cloud he sat on right now. 

They rounded a corner further up the path and spotted Doggo sat at his post. He squinted at the brothers and nodded in acknowledgement.

“Doggo!” Papyrus said loud and disapprovingly. “I hear you got into a fight with a friend of ours some time ago and almost killed them! A flower?” He asked expectantly. 

Sans felt his blood turn cold. 

Doggo tilted his head to the side, frowning in utter confusion. Oh no. Sans acted fast, he slowly side stepped out from behind his brother, he dropped his grin low and the lights of his eyes vanished. Doggo found Sans’ gaze. “Urr…”

The skeleton nodded slowly, keeping their eyes locked. Doggo looked extremely unsettled at the face which read ‘Answer yes, and you get to live.’   
The dog quickly looked back to Papyrus who stood with his hands on his hips. He smirked, “I mean sounds like something I’d do, I was probably high.”   
Papyrus loudly sighed and began walking again, muttering and shaking his head. Doggo met Sans’ eyes again who widely grinned and gave him a thumbs up. 

The dog monster returned it with his own sheepish grin and another shrug.

They continued home, without another occurrence. 

 

The week crept on. Life was continuing as it seemed to have always had done. New townsfolk were becoming a regular sight, now the new houses were being sold and moved into. The tall insect couple they had seen had moved into a new house beside the Bunny residence. More gifts were piling under the tree in centre of Snowdin as the season crept in. Papyrus was good at composing his reports for Undyne, he was adapting to the slight changes in the Guard and was proving to be a very organised leader of their small squad. The atmosphere of the small town was pleasant and upbeat.

One of it’s residents, however, could not seem to settle.

Sans felt jittery. He continued to mark down the daily events in his journals, no matter how mundane they seemed. At the end of the week he would copy down the week’s events into the computer in his lab. Days ticked on. This was one of the longer times the kid had left them without Resetting, not the longest though. The days seemed to be passing both quickly and slowly. Sans tried and failed to not think too much about the futility of it all. 

The small snowy town’s population had defiantly increased in the last three weeks. Grillby’s was nearly full when Sans arrived in the early evening. It was loud and his usual seat next to the bar was taken by a new pair of monsters. He grabbed a free chair and sat with the Guard Dogs, who had somehow managed to acquire their usual table. Greater Dog yipped happily and wagged his tail while Doggo grumbled something and tried to ignore the Skeleton. 

They sat joking about the new Queen, how the Underground was doomed now the Souls had disappeared. Dogaressa asked Sans if he could play a sad tune on the trombone for them if they all decided to jump into the Hotlands’ lava.

Doggo made a low growl, “How many more of these city dwellers are going to move over here? They smell strange. I don’t like it.”

“Well that’s to be expected when the town’s population nearly doubles in two weeks.” Dogamy said, finishing his drink.

For a town populated mostly by families and close neighbours, new builds and a sudden influx of people had unnerved some residents.   
“What do you think of the new houses?” Sans asked.

“They look like they’re made of rubbish.” Snapped Doggo.

Sans laughed “They probably are, knowing all the stuff they get from the dump.”

Lesser Dog nodded his head vigorously in agreement. 

Doggarissa smiled, looking devious, “Doggo is just salty because he was hoping to trade in his old shack for one of those new builds.”  
The grumpy Dog snarled but ignored her as he lit up a dog treat. 

The night rolled on. The Dogs eventually left and the bar thinned out. Sans moved back to his place at the bar and chatted to Grillby now that he was less busy. The moment of peace was broken when a lizard looking monster shuffled through the door, holding it open for a small group of five other monsters. 

They were a similar height, the new arrival only a touch taller than the Skeleton. He reminded Sans of Alphys, in their jittery movements, reptilian look and similar height and colour. This however was where their similarities ended, this monster had two large eyes and several smaller eyes which haloed above them around his oval shaped head. His tail was long and forked, it was oddly bent side to side unnaturally in places. He looked thin and sickly but walked with his head high with pride. He took the seat beside Sans, ushering the rest of his group into the seats around them. 

The bug couple followed. Husband short and sticklike with a dark brown exoskeleton, wings that reached nearly to his feet and wearing shorts and a tank top. His wife was tall and bulky, so much she needed to dip her head under the frame of the door. Unlike her partner’s, her shell was a bright emerald green and covered in red tipped spines visible around her dress. They took a seat in a booth. 

An egg stomped in on two spindly feet. White and plain with three sets of black limbs. His four hands clenched. This strange monster carried a formidable air. It took the seat on the far end of the bar, at least two away from the others.

Sans did a doubletake as a strange white morphing form with many faces drifted through the door. It took him a while to realise it wasn’t one of the strange melted monsters escaped from Alphys’ basement. It was actually a cloud, floating in chattering quietly in many voices. As it neared, Sans was able to count nine faces on its strange amorphous body. It floated above the bar. He was silently thankful he didn’t need to call Alphys to come collect her loose pets. 

Bringing up the rear was, much to his immediate dislike, a plant monster. It walked on its roots like big flappy feet, a round bulblike body and three stems which each supported a big blue and white flower. These flower heads had small black eyes who all moved independently upon the same body. It waddled up to Sans. “Is this seat taken?” It asked in an almost childlike voice, gesturing to the seat on Sans’ other side.

The skeleton gestured back to confirm its vacancy. Despite being tiny it crawled upon the barstool on the other side of Sans using its stretchy roots. It seemed the small monster would rather sit beside a stranger than closer to the egg looking guy.

The Lizard like monster settled down a suitcase, which was almost as big as he was and removed a pair of thick gloves from his clawed hands. The monster ordered an espresso, a long smile stretching around his face as he did.

“Damn its cold outside when they turn those main lights off.” He stated. His voice was gritty but held a posh overtone which fit well with the black fitted suit he wore.

“Well that’s why everyone comes here, warmest place in town.” Sans grinned, “You new around here?”

The sandy yellow monster nodded. “Somewhat for myself. These kind fellows have just moved in, as it is their first day in Snowdin I decided to give them the lay of the land. I stay in New Home, myself.” He hummed before continuing in a hushed tone, “I’m the landlord, you see.” Nodding his head towards the other monsters who were pleasantly chatting amongst themselves, looking relieved to be out of the cold. “You aren’t one of those villagers who are against new movers, are you?” He asked, sounding tired. 

“Heh, no, buddy. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m Sans, the Skeleton, nice to meet ya.” He said warmly, holding out a hand.

The lizard took it and shook hastily. “Goldwell, Algringtonsly Goldwell.” A long grin sliding around his jaw which seemingly split his face in half. “And what do you do, Sans?”

Before Sans could answer the cloud monster hovered in front of his face, a little close for comfort. “Hi!” All the tiny faces said in unison in high pitched squeaks. “I’ve always wanted to live in Snowdin, haven’t you? Oh well you already live here of cause, haha! I’m Cloudnine, by the way. Aren’t those snow flurries just heavenly…” It continued in excitement. It was rambling about weather conditions and their magical influences when a loud cough from across the bar silenced the small creature. The egg stared facelessly across. The little cloud laughed nervously before rising above the room again. 

Sans shrugged and continued to answer this ‘Goldwell’s’ question, not interested in the awkward silence which had befallen the room. “I’m here and there really, I’ve got a snack stall, little things that keep me busy. I’m a sentry in the forest too, ya know, cuz my brother is in charge of all that. Hes pretty cool so he managed to get me into it too.” 

The egg leaned on the bar, apparently interested upon hearing about the Snowdin Sentry’s. 

“The tall monster who runs everywhere?” One little blue flower said. “Yes, I saw him today. One of the children stopped him to ask for help with their homework. They spent almost an hour sitting in the snow.” Followed up a second cheerful voice from a different stem. The third flower blushed and received sceptical looks from the other heads. “Shrubberthree, by the way.” They said in unison, holding a root like hand for Sans to shake.

Sans hoped his mild discomfort was not picked up on by this new monster as he shook their ‘hand’. Shrubberthree and Cloudnine. Two pun names and bad ones at that. He smiled to himself. Their parents must have really hated them! 

They ordered drinks and chatted about each other’s work. Cloudnine worked on weather patterns and had once been a reporter on MTT channel. The weather in the Underground hardly ever changed however they took their job very seriously. The couple owned a knitting business which they ran from home. They guessed Shrubberthree worked in floristry. The plant monster politely disagreed, telling them with only small amount of annoyance that they found that rather offensive; further informing them that they were in fact helping the community in Waterfall to improve public morale. 

Goldwell boasted about his property and tourism business and the egg, who it turned out was named ‘Egg’, sat in silence. The strong drink in front of him sat on the table seemingly untouched though the liquid was slowly draining from it. By magical means, Sans could only expect. 

The plants ordered a simple glass of squash, which they placed a hand into to drink with their roots. They eyed him in a curious way as the Skeleton lifted his drink. He of cause knew which question wanted to be asked, though Shrubberthree seemed unsure whether it was polite or not. 

“Yeah Skeletons can drink.” Sans chuckled. 

“Oh. That’s neat.” One head admitted. “We just wondered.”

“What can I say, I felt it in my bones.” He watched as Goldwell, who listened, stilled for a few seconds before scrunching his face in an odd manner once realising the joke. Sans was unsure whether it was in disgust or humour. Shrubberthree didn’t give any indication of registering the joke. “We can eat too, fuels our magic.” Sans continued.

Goldwell nodded. “Makes sense. My magic has always been useless so I guess that’s one of the reasons I don’t really eat much… Or maybe my magic is awful because I don’t eat, that’s probably more like it.” He laughed to himself, taking a sip of his second espresso. “I guess that would make sense, you don't have much physical matter? Can Skeletons get drunk?”

“Yes and yes. I suppose you could say we have to improvise for a lot of things, with magic.” He replied, downing half of his drink.

“Breath?” Came a question from Cloudnine who’s drink had been politely poured into a bowl. The monster sat in it quietly, absorbing the liquid. Sans had forgotten they were here. 

“Eh, don’t have to but it stops ya magic form going kinda… stale? I guess that’s the best word.” He paused in thought. “Kinda like when you shake a sauce bottle to mix it up, you don’t have to but it’s kinda gross if you don’t. I could ask you the same question.” He nodded back at the cloud. 

“I’m pretty porous.” A few of the cloud’s faces replied contentedly. 

The lizard nodded thoughtfully before pausing. “Apologies if that was of any offence.” 

Sans just grinned at him, “Its fine, nothing gets under my skin. Heh.” He was met with a similar reaction like before.

“Now you should be the one apologising for that joke.” Goldwell cracked a long smirk. 

Sans laughed “Sorry, I broke my funny bone a long time ago.” 

“HAH! I got that one” Cloudnine exclaimed, nearly knocking over its possibly alcoholic bath.

Goldwell didn’t hide the wheezy laugh that escaped him. 

_Joke: accepted. Comedic floodgates: open._

Grillby accusingly glared and he heard another regular customer mutter something along the lines of ‘Here he goes, leave now if you want your sanity spared’. 

The conversation carried on for a while longer, the friendly banter with unfamiliar people cheered the Skeleton greatly. So many other monster’s words felt scripted, he had listened to them so many times. Maybe all these new monsters in the town would be a good thing after all. 

They chatted a little about everything, slowly moving to the discussion of urban legends surrounding Snowdin and its local area. A strange snakelike creature living it the forest who creeps into houses to steal away new-borns. The apparently disturbing origin of the Gyftrot. A tall black figure with a pale cracked face who’s words send you mad. Finally, the one about the ‘Secret Human’, who fell to the Underground as a child and learned to live amongst the monsters without detection.  
“Well of course they’d be an adult by now. _I think_ they are waiting and plotting to take over, when we least expect it.” Said Goldwell, leading the discussion.

The bug couple were the first to go, they finished their milky coffees and returned them to the bar. Heartily thanked Grillby and despite not partaking in conversation, wished Sans the best and hoped they would meet again soon. They gave their apparent tour guide a single nod and left. 

“Shall we be off?” Sans blinked in surprise when Cloudnine directed the question at Egg, who didn’t seem to react one bit. 

As if a question had been answered, the small monster continued, “Well I’ll leave the door open- no I’m not doing that, you know how I get when you disappear for the night. Yes, of cause.” It seemed to end bitterly. Then back at the rest of the group, cheerily squeaked, “Goodnight everyone, wonderful meeting you all today!” They left through a crack in the window.

A while later, Shrubberthree broke from the discussion too. “We must be off, if you see us around, make sure you remind us to sort those recipe books for your brother, Sans. That guide to gemstones for you, Mr Goldwell and I’ll find that spare water filter for our friend whos just left.” They finished, motioning to Egg, who gave a wave of acknowledgement.

The remaining two chatted nonsense while Egg watched quietly from the corner.

Goldwell finally hopped off his bar stool, in a much better mood than when he arrived. “I think it’s nearly midnight, so I had best go. Next time I’ll tell you my conspiracy about how time is different on the surface and how our time is simplified to just a day and night of twenty-three hours, even though it’s _supposed_ to mirror surface time.” He grinned from ear to ear and shook Sans’ hand in a friendly manner. “Nice meeting you, my friend. Don’t catch cold, though I’m sure you are more used to it than me by now.” He shot an uncomfortable look at Egg as he left.

What a friendly guy. Sans stayed for some time longer, he wasn’t really sure at this point. The drunk bunny joined him in the seat that Goldwell had left vacant and the two of them chatted to Grillby who was slowly getting more fed up with their joking antics. A few inappropriate jokes later and Bunny was ordered to go home. Sans noticed that the egg must have slipped out at some point. He had ‘zygone home to poach around his new place’, Sans though with a chuckle. 

“You know, I kinda like these new people.” Sans said, now they were alone.

Grillby’s flames shone a calm orange as he cleaned the surface of the bar ready to close. He inclined his head curiously, urging his friend to continue.   
“This hasn’t happened before.” Sans stated. At the fire monster’s confusion, he continued. “You know I said I’d tell you whenever there was a Reset?” 

Little yellow sparks of subtle alarm shot off of Grillby, at least he was listening. “Usually it Resets by now- not that this is the furthest I’ve been. That’ll be in like, a week from now?” He pondered. “Its great, this is the best state I’ve seen the Underground in all these Resets. Well, maybe minus the one where we got the surface of course. We didn’t stay for too long though, you should see the stars! Well, you did and you should have seen your face, hah! But I can’t complain about this one either, no ones dead, no riots or killing in the street- the damn flower is dead!” Sans seemed to grin too wide for his face, a bit like Goldwell had. 

‘No one’s dead?’ He repeated back. ‘Asgore?’

“Pfft, oh yeah.” Sans half-heartedly waved off his mistake, “Yeah, lets just say Asgore has the unique ability to be terrible at surviving any timeline.” He laughed.

Grillby didn’t look so ecstatic but rather stared in a tense silence, just watching him. Eventually there came a reply into his mind. ‘I don’t claim to know much about all this but, the flower? How can that be?’ 

“No, the human was the anomaly, Flowey lost his powers, kid killed him, Alphys has his dust now.” Sans gave dismissal wave of his bony hand. “Kid has Reset about fifteen times maybe.” He said, like it was talking about the weather, so nonchalant and trivial. Maybe it was because of this that made the bartender look so unsettled. “Don’t’ worry, they left you alone. I think even they got that you’re a grumpy git and didn’t bother with you.” He said with a grin, taking a sip of something which would probably contribute to his inevitable demise. 

Grillby leaned on the side of the bar and released a short billow of smoke which seemed to say ‘I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment or not’.  
They stayed in silence for a minute or so, Grillby turning over the cloth in his hands in thought while Sans grinned as he stared down what remained of his drink. The fire monster spoke quietly into his mind. ‘Just one month fifteen times? That’s still over a year.’

“Give or take, yeah it was pretty boring. Hehe!” He tried to laugh it off but even he knew it wasn’t convincing anyone. “Crazy thing is, I don’t think the kids coming back! Everything they did felt so… final.” He was getting excited again.

Grillby held up a hand to quieten him. ‘I don’t want to be the one to ruin this for you but you’ve said this before. You’ve told me about the times the flower left it a while longer before going back. You got your hopes up and then got inevitably let down.’

“Ok ok.” Sans glared down, willing his grin not to faulter. Grillby nodded and they returned to silence, though it was noticeably more awkward than previous. 

‘Can I make one suggestion?’ 

“Sure, Grillbs.”

‘If you truly think this is the last one then please, tell your brother.’ Grillby looked as calm as ever again. Sans looked up, meeting his eye and waiting for him to continue. ‘You might be used to all this but I can tell it takes a toll on you. I can tell when there has been one of these Resets before you tell me because one day you don’t seem too bad and the next you look like hell and I know it isn’t your brother’s cooking knocking twenty years off of your lifespan.’ 

Sans looked off, unwilling to hear anymore, he realised suddenly how tired he was, what a perfect excuse for a quick exit that would be. As if knowing is train of thought, the fire monster flared a few spitting sparks from his head to get his attention before continuing. ‘He deserves to know that you aren’t crazy. Papyrus sees you the most, he doesn’t ever ask you about what’s going on, does he?’ Sans shook his head. ‘He probably makes some excuse to avoid talking about it.’ 

“Ok that’s enough tonight, Grillbs, I better get home before he comes looking for me, heh.” He knew the other monster had more to say but his good mood had been sufficiently burnt up by the bartender and he wasn’t in the frame of mind for a life talk. Not that he ever was really. Sans envied how sensible the fire monster was, his level headedness and ability to actually think about situations was something Sans had always lacked in his life. He was more of a ‘go with the flow’ guy and if things turn out badly then well… shit. 

He got up to leave. ‘Sans, think about what I said.’ He called. 

“Yeah, don’t get yourself all hot over it, I will.” He said in the doorway, giving a half-hearted wave of goodbye over his shoulder as he let the door creak closed behind him. The fire monster could see straight through him, he knew, but still hoped he bought the excuse about being tired.   
The snow had picked up outside and swirled viciously around in the wind. Sans pulled his hood over his head and kept his eyes to the snow. There was no way he would ever tell Papyrus about the Resets. He doubted his brother would understand and there was no point burdening him with Sans’ emotional baggage more than he already was. 

Even with all his wishful thinking, he knew it was futile. It would all Reset, as per usual. He just hoped he could keep his head above the metaphorical water over the next week and a bit- the usual time for the Reset to occur. 

His mind blanked out in a haze somewhere during his journey, the next thing he registered was his warm blanket and pillow.


	4. Colourless Blue

A pleasant light snowfall littered the forest, silently descending upon the tall skeleton who trudged towards town. Papyrus’s skipping strides and cheerful greetings were difficult to be matched not just within the population of their little town but that of the entire Underground. 

It was something the monster would ponder occasionally.

_“Sans, why do the people around here seem sad all the time?”_ He had asked when he was much younger.

_“Well, you know bro, there’s not much room to breath down here, people can get pretty upset.”_ Had been his brother's gentle reply. 

He was right, where they lived before in New Home it had been dreary and dark. When they had moved to Snowdin and a very young Papyrus hadn’t known what to do with all the space!

But the people here hadn’t been much happier either. So, he had asked Sans again. 

_“People just get tired, being trapped down here. If they know there is something better just out of reach, they wont easily accept what we have down here.”_ His brother had tried to explain. 

Papyrus had never shared this viewpoint, he found little joys all around him. The yellow orange of the artificial sunlight as it dimmed to imitate evening. The tiny new trees poking out of the ground. The way his scarf blew in the wind. 

As he reached town, the day had turned to late afternoon. The patches of cloud were fine and it looked like it would be a clear night in Snowdin, a welcome, rare change. ‘An excellent night for stargazing’! He thought. He was sure Sans would want to go, he loved the stars. Or at least they enjoyed looking at the gems and luminous moss on the cavern ceiling which imitated them. 

Sans loved learning about the real stars, the ones they would see when they finally reached the surface. His older brother had tried frequently during their younger years to teach him what was in their science books, the kind of stuff they don’t teach you in school. Papyrus had listened intently but never been able to retain the information anything like his brother could. Their lessons had gotten less frequent over time until Sans had eventually given up. Now, stargazing was a rarity neither had indulged in for a long time. He was sure Sans would be delighted by the surprise tonight. 

He hatched an excellent plan and the thought of his brother’s happiness made his magic skip in delight. He would stop by Grillby’s to pick Sans up, Papyrus would make spaghetti for them and then they could sit outside to watch the stars with some snacks. He grinned, amazing himself at being able to come up with such a master plan! 

Grillby’s was always the same, the same sorry faces in the same threadbare seats. The same smell, the same drone of mundane chatter. Unlike Sans, Papyrus disliked this place intensely, though he tried his best to keep this opinion to himself. 

Sans leaned over the bar in his usual seat, his flame elemental friend busy chatting with another regular further along the bar. His brother didn’t acknowledge him as Papyrus approached. Empty bottles of ketchup and others he didn’t recognise sat lifelessly in front of the skeleton. He stared them down with half lidded eyes. Everything about him seemed oddly devoid of colour. Papyrus couldn’t explain it- must have been a trick of the light. 

“Hello, brother.” Papyrus exclaimed, standing beside Sans. “I have come to propose an evening of spaghetti and stargazing, it shall be a clear night and I know how much you love the stars.” 

It seemed to take a second for Sans to realise he had been spoken to. The taller skeleton was about to repeat himself when he was answered. “Sure bro, but I’ve already eaten, so I’ll have to forgetti your spaghetti tonight.” 

Despite feeling a little disappointed, he refused to let it show and gave Sans his best grin. “Well you do seem like you are having a nice time here, can we still go and watch the stars later?” 

“Yeah, sure, I won’t be too long.” He said, trying to attract the attention of Grillby, who had now left the other regulars. Sans was still slouched across the bar, he had yet to even turn and face Papyrus. He noticed his brother’s hoody was nearly as threadbare as the barstool he sat on. 

“Excellent, I can’t wait! Try not to forget this time.” He pulled Sans into a brief half hug. Sans apparently hadn’t expected it as he jumped with surprise at the contact. Just as he turned to leave, Papyrus caught the gaze of his brother’s best friend and gave the fire monster a brilliant smile. He wasn’t expecting the bartender’s face to shift into a look of… sympathy? Oh, well maybe he hadn’t been looking at Papyrus. 

“Yeah, see ya.” Came Sans’ docile reply, still not moving from where he slumped across the dark, greasy looking surface. 

Papyrus skipped home happily, made some of his best spaghetti yet and placed a portion into a container, emptying the other containers from the fridge. If Sans couldn’t eat it tonight then maybe he would want it for breakfast. 

He sat watching television, MTT channel only holding his attention for so long. He turned to the crossword in todays newspaper, hoping it would provide a staple distraction. Maybe his brother was in thrilling conversation and had lost track of time, easily done. Maybe the clouds hadn’t cleared after all and Sans had decided to stay out. Papyrus rolled his eyes; a text would have at least been nice if that was the case. 

In long strides he covered the floor quickly. Papyrus threw open the door in his usual exaggerated way and was greeted by both a freezing gust of wind and a field of faint but beautiful light glinting across the cavern’s roof. The skeleton squinted up at the fake starfield feeling tiny under its weight. 

Standing on his doorstep, he watched them. The stars lit up memories in him from days gone by.  
He remembered times gone by, when his brother would take him to Waterfall where they would sit in the grass together and watch the stars from the best places in the Underground. He would listen to Sans enthuse about space and the Sci-fi dramas it reminded him of. They would make their own constellations and name them silly things. Tracing one now with his eye, he remembered the rather aptly named ‘Peanut Butter’ jar shaped trail of sparkling rocks. 

Slipping back into the warmth of his house, or at least it would have been, had he not stood with the door wide open. The reminiscent thoughts swam through his mind. He could smell the thick scent of Waterfalls marshland and hear the conversations between them as the brothers chatted non-stop about school, friends, interests, imaginary things, the world around them or just Sans’ work. 

They had talked so much back then. Maybe it was a product of growing up that meant the chatter of two people living in the same house flagged to a mere trickle. All this considered, Papyrus felt nearly the same as he had always done. Watching people grow up was like seeing them slowly turn into different monsters, he considered himself the same as he always did, though maybe more handsome than before. He wondered off hand whether observers would say that he had grown into a different monster, or would they share his opinion? 

10:30 pm. He left the light on for Sans and went to bed, hoping his brother would see the note left on the table, informing him of the food left in the fridge. The skeleton stood on their landing casting a long, disappointed look at the front door before retreating into his room. 

The following day, Sans did not leave his room. The only way Papyrus knew the small monster was behind the door were his snores and sleepy murmurs that crept passed the wooden barricade. 

The day after that he left his room finally in the late afternoon to get water and some snacks. Sans had shuffled uneasily past where Papyrus cleaned behind the sofa. With his hoodie pulled up around his head so tightly it looked like it was eating him. 

“Hello brother!” Papyrus exclaimed in a happy yell as he caught Sans sneaking back. “I missed seeing you at work today.” 

The short skeleton stilled and it was impossible not to notice the effort it took for him to pull his smile back into his usual place and, with a little less success, the shine back into his dark ringed eyes. 

“What do ya’ mean, bro? Sure I was at work today.” If Papyrus didn’t know for certain otherwise, he would have sworn this monster had not slept in a week. 

_‘No he wasn’t’,_ he though in response. “Oh, I guess I missed you then.” He grinned in return. 

“Yeah you must have, thanks though.” He said, pulling his hoody closer around his neck. 

_‘I didn’t miss you though’._ “There is food in the fridge, I’ll warm it up later for you. Let me know if you are going out. It’s some of the best I’ve made, so I’m sure you’ll want some.” He posed triumphantly, while Sans shuffled his feet uncomfortably. 

“That’s great, thanks.” Sans gave a final wide, fake smile before trudging up the stairs. 

At the click of his brother’s door closing, Papyrus let his shoulders slump. He was more perceptive than Sans gave him credit for, and even still, one would need to be really stupid to not catch those blatant lies. Papyrus was fairly used to these bouts of strangeness, but why would Sans do this in the first place? Realising he was still stood awkwardly at the back of the sofa staring at his brothers closed door he decisively threw the stray wrappers he held into a rubbish bag. 

Maybe Sans was feeling sick today and found it embarrassing so never mentioned it. Yeah. That sounded more like it.

The tall skeleton was thrilled when Sans accepted the reheated spaghetti through a crack in his door several hours later. He was not so thrilled the following morning when he cleared the plate from where it sat on the floor, untouched. 

 

Sans hadn’t been sleeping. He sat in his room with extra sheets pulled over his widow to block out any incredibly sneaky light which managed to creep passed the first two sheets. All was quiet, the low sound of the trash tornado in the corner his only company. Papyrus was at work, probably running around the forest checking for any human catching traps they had forgotten about. 

Speaking of humans. 

As he sat cross-legged on his bed, he clutched his phone. Calling the kid after they left the Underground had become a habit. The Kid never directly answered his calls, but he was absolutely sure they always listened to the message he left. It would always Reset shortly after. 

The anticipation of awaiting a Reset was killing him, apart from one short uneventful trip to the Judgment Hall, he had not left his house for damn near a week. Papyrus was starting to get worried, he suspected. And yet he still couldn’t shake the feeling that this Reset was different. It was a hope which felt equally hopeless. 

Almost reflexively, he dialled the human’s number. Sans shuddered but felt comforted by the dark. 

Squinting at the phones screen, it predictably went to voicemail. “Urr, hey, kid.” Sans realised he had not spoken nearly all week and coughed, “Things have been pretty good down here, The Queen has come out of hiding and retaken her position. She’s getting along with Undyne, who’s made a few changes in the guard. Nothing major but Papyrus is in charge of taking care of everyone in Snowdin, hes loving it. 

The human souls we had are missing but Alphys has a plan for something we can try instead. She’s stressed but I think she’s enjoying work a little more, now she has something different to focus on.”

He paused, not really knowing what else to say.” As for me, well I’m same as always. Sure you’ve figured out by now that I’d be much happier if you didn’t come back. You killed the Flower, I’m not even mad ‘bout that, thanks.”

He took a long sigh, “Look, I might be crazy at this point but I have a feeling you wanted it this way, to leave no impact on anyone? You were getting more and more destructive every time you came through here, to the point that… well you remember. Did I scare you off after last time? I bet I didn’t really. Heh. I think what really scared you off was how you restarted our fight so many times that the timeline started to crack? All the crazy stuff that started happening. I’m not sure how much damage was left, the rooms not right now and my stats are kinda weird now. I wonder if it affected you at all?  
Sorry, I’ll stop rambling… I really hope you don’t come back, please, please don’t come back.” He nearly forgot to hang up the phone and sat in silence for a minute. “Seeya.” Sans concluded, hanging up. 

Sans stared into his dark walls for some time, unthinking. 

He logged the activity in his journals sometime later under dim light. 

Later Papyrus knocked on his door and passed him a small paper bag. “Since you clearly aren’t feeling well, I got you some food from Grillby’s on the way home. He asked how you were, I think all your friends there are worried about you. They all said ‘get well soon’!” Papyrus said. 

Sans gratefully accepted the gesture. And ate half of the nearly cold fries. He found neat writing scrawled onto the inside of the bag. 

_‘Hope you are ok, come by tomorrow, its strange not seeing you. -G’_

He threw out the remaining food into an overflowing rubbish sack in his corner, folded the greaseproof paper and slid it into his pocket.   
The night did not come easy. Sans sat awake on his mattress, tomorrow would be a new day, a day he hadn’t yet experienced. It would be the furthest he had ever gotten, a new thing. It was going to Reset. Tonight. He was sure of it. Any minute in fact. 

The night ticked on and still sleep evaded him. Each minute scraped passed slowly and meaningfully. It was like trying to sleep on Gyftmas night, but Santa being replaced by a demon child who likes to drop by occasionally and stab your family. 

It was early morning now, around two. Unable to take any more anticipation, Sans left his house. His slippers, now slightly discoloured after their ordeal, clumped through the snow. Though it was not snowing currently, even in the dark, the clouds could be seen gathering flakes ready for in a few hours time. Setting off in the direction of his favourite bar, the skeleton considered whether Grillby’s would still be open. 

When he reached it, the lights were off. Its door, mouldy with damp sat firmly closed. Sans stood in the silence for an unclear amount of time. At the back of the building stood the door which led upstairs to the fire elemental’s small home above his business. There was an urge to knock, see if he was still up. Someone to sit and talk to. 

He stood pondering the situation for a long few minutes until he suddenly felt awkward. It was something passed two in the morning, this wasn’t exactly normal behaviour. 

Sighing, he trudged back towards his own house. That had been an unrealistic hope, his friend would surly be asleep by now. But Sans didn’t want to go back yet, couldn’t bare the walls of his room again right now. 

The monster slumped onto a bench. The chilly air was comfortable and the odd gusts of wind rocked the dark silhouettes of the trees. He couldn’t allow himself the hope of tomorrow when there was the inevitability of disappointment. He hated that human, that anomaly. How could they? Sans’ mind swam with ideas of the human meeting a horrible end. Even after the many many deaths he had dealt them upon their judgment, it had not been enough. Getting what they truly deserved was what he desired… 

 

_He remembered how the human had left them before._

_He remembered there being silence. No voices, no movement accompanying the rising and falling of dawn and dusk. Remembers the smell of dust on the wind and the echoing sound of desperate crying. He remembers the small stray white dog of Snowdin wining up at him looking more neglected and shabbier than usual. Remembers sitting in Grillby’s living space above his bar, neither of them moving or speaking for unending hours. He remembers the hum of energy as the horrific blaster head manifests above him where he sits on the floor of Papyrus’s room. Hears the screech of released energy and the deafening snap and crumble of timber and stone collapsing._

 

Sans awoke with a start. He had managed to fall asleep on the bench. The faintest glints of light were rising in the replicated dawn. A deep chill in his bones and aching movements he made get up. Doing so knocked off a small covering of snow which had settled upon him. The snow had indeed set in now. 

A wave of embarrassment rattled his bones more than the cold. What a ridiculous thing to do. Sans tried not to think too much, he was incredibly tired. Knocking the fresh snow out of his slippers the skeleton wasted no time clumsily getting to his feet in as little movement as possible, feeling like the cold had glued his joints together. 

‘Cold as an ice cream bone.’ He thought. As quick as he could, Sans shambled back towards his home. 

The overbearing tiredness followed him as he crept back to his stale smelling room. It felt stuffy and far too warm compared to the outdoor weather. Pulling his phone out to check the time, it read 5:48AM. 

The skeleton stilled as his phone displayed a message. One word. One word which made him freeze up more than Snowdin’s weather ever could.  
A message from the kid. 

‘Goodbye.’ 

 

A/n- A shorter one than usual today and with the first perspective switch. Much wow, very ooh. 'Stuff' starts happeneing next chapter. Big thanks again to Jack for test reading this as always. He had some problems with the tonal consistancy of this one, with it being to much of a downer, though I opted to not make almost any changes. What did you guys think? I'd love to get some criticism on this crap. :D  
Thanks for wasting your time on this garbage, it means a lot.  
-Zazzy. xx


	5. A bump in the night

“Sans!”

Something loud.

“SANS!”

Morning light filled his blurred sockets. His head hurt.

“Come on lazy bones, something is going on outside.”

Rude. Sleeping is way more important.

There was a rough shake to the corner of his mattress, enough that it woke him. Papyrus was frowning disapprovingly down to him. The tired Skeleton blinked and smiled up at his brother. It was too early for words.

“Darn it Sans, I keep telling you not to go to bed with your jacket on! If you are cold then we have another blanket in my room.”

‘That’s called a floor mat’, he thought, trying to snuggle back down. 

Acknowledging he was alive enough now to process speech, Papyrus shuffled to the dirty window, peeling back the sheets pinned across it to block out light, the tall Skeleton recoiling at the dust that took flight at the disturbance. 

“Everyone is out in the street, there was screaming and now everyone is out there” Said Papyrus, more curiosity in his voice than disturbance.  
“Huh, what?” Ok, maybe this did warrant his attention.

“I don’t know! Hurry and get ready so we can go look!” A bunch of fresh clothes were thrown at him as Papyrus bounded out of the room. 

Sighing, the bedcover was thrown against the wall and a quick check was done of all his calendars, times and dates reassured him that today was kind enough to follow yesterday. And yes, he was sure he was the only monster in the Underground who did this.   
He did a double take at the date. He remembered last night. He checked his phone again. ‘Goodbye.’ The text read. N o R e s e t. 

Jaw slack and not breathing. Today was new. 

“ARE YOU READY YET?!” Papyrus practically broke down the door again. He was pointing to his phone which displayed several missed calls from Undyne. 

 

Cold wind swept over the brothers as they left their home. Papyrus was right, most of the town was out in the main street. It added to an adequate number, now that flocks of new folk had moved down to Snowdin. Sans spotted the bug couple amongst the crowd. 

They pushed through the crowds, up towards the houses by the riverside. The crowd were held back by the Guard Dogs and just beyond them stood Undyne. There also stood another member of the Guard, who the skeleton recognised but had never been introduced too, a large fluffy bear monster. Papyrus waved enthusiastically to them. 

“Hey Papyrus! Come on through, we’ve got a situation.” Called Undyne, in her usual casual seriousness. “Next time pick up your phone calls, I’ve been here the last half an hour. I’d’ have got you myself but you might tell, I’ve been a bit busy.”

Papyrus smiled apologetically as he was ushered around the side of the small house by the two Guardsmen. 

“Hey, Sentry, help the Dogs control this crowd!” She shouted back at Sans before disappearing behind the building. 

The tall Skeleton enthusiastically introduced himself to his newest Guard friend, the bear monster with midnight blue fur and slate grey armour. He bowed his head in greeting. Shining partials in his fur lit up, making the bear’s coat look like a field of stars.   
How pretty.

Undyne wasted no time for pleasantries as she rounded the corner. 

“Last night there was an… incident, here.” She motioned towards the house they stood beside. “Which resulted in the death of the lady who lived here. We think someone killed her.” The Captain stated, wasting no time. 

Papyrus gasped dramatically, a look of horror across his face. 

“W-why?! Why would anyone-?” 

Undyne gave an exaggerated shrug. 

“I dunno, Paps. That’s what we need to find out.”

The Skeleton stayed quiet as he was led back to the front of the house. Now that he looked at it, the place was a mess. A long scorch mark trailed along its side, leading from the very back of the small building, which Papyrus could not yet see. Some of the wooden planks that made up the outer walls looked like they were blown out of place from the inside, some distorted but not completely broken. 

They stepped into a tiny hallway, one side of the house a kitchen and the other a living room which altogether made up the tiny wooden house.   
Undyne kept a close eye on Papyrus’s reactions as they walked in to the living room. A pungent smell of ash and charred wood made their eyes water. To say that the room was a mess was an understatement. A hole was blown out of the entire far wall, wooden planks burnt and blasted ten feet into the trees behind the house. Charred wallpaper made it appear like a controlled explosive had been detonated. Two other Guards and a Snowdin resident busied about the room. 

The resident, a short mouse-like monster wrapped up in a long scarf bobbed her head in greeting. 

“Oh, hello Papyrus. Miss Undyne, there is something I’ve found.” She squeaked. 

“Ms Truffle lived here.” The Skeleton thought aloud, like he hadn’t heard the other speak.

“Sure, I’ll be there in a sec.” Undyne replied before taking a quieter tone for Papyrus. “You know her? The monster who lived here?”

“Not too well, just one of those people who is always around, you know.” He huffed out a long breath, trying to dispel not only his shock but the awful smell of the incinerated monster’s dust and burning from his nose.

Undyne nodded, “Yeah, I get it.” She waited a moment, taking in the carnage. “You guys have a look around here, see if you can find anything. Anything important that can help us find out how this happened. I’ll be back in a sec.”

As she disappeared back out the front door, the Skeleton noted the lack of her usual fire. Understandable, he wondered how anyone could view this disaster and not feel shaken. It concerned him but he wouldn’t bring it up, him and Undyne were great friends, if she wanted to talk about anything she would in her own time.

Not knowing where to start, Papyrus observed the two other Guards now in the room. The bear rummaged through a paper draw untouched by the fire while the other, a smaller fly creature turned over the seats of an old armchair which looked like it had seen better days. When the fly shot him a slightly awkward look, Papyrus realised he was probably staring and quickly looked for something to do.

Crouching down where the blast had hit and blown out the wall, rubble and wall planks lay piled up on the floor. Starting by turning them over he looked under the debris to try uncovering anything. 

What was considered important? He was sure he would know when he found it.

The house was very small. Ideally built for just one smaller monster. It vaguely reminded him of the tiny room in New Home he and Sans had stayed in before his brother had one day gathered up their few belongings and announced they were moving to Snowdin. He had always wondered how Sans had managed to fund their huge jump in accommodation size and location. Papyrus had been very young at the time but still had clear memory of their surprise move from their old room. The idea of him and his brother living in a house this size these days made him cringe. Urgh, that lack of personal space! 

Drawing back his thoughts, the tall skeleton stared off to the panelling of the house which had been flung a good amount of distance towards the edge of the forest. 

So how did this explosion happen? A fire? Maybe something flammable caught and went boom? His eyes caught the bear still looking through unharmed papers.

The house was burnt, yes. Completely engulfed in flames, no. So that wasn’t it.

Running his hand through the burnt remains of what was once something papery, he frowned and took off one of his gloves. There was no smoke rising just dust swirling as he unsettled the debris. The piles of ashes which had not gathered snow were chilled but not completely cold. The smallest trace of heat clung to his bare hand. It was still early, when had this happened?

His train of thought was interrupted by Undyne stomping back into the room. She looked expectantly at the Guardsmen, who both shook their heads, indicating the finding of nothing important. 

The spindly green fly piped up, “Those are just old tax papers,” He pointed to what the bear was holding. “I got some magical residue on just about everything in here.” He spoke in a scratchy voice.

The green monster was right, a silent buzz sat just out of reach of the physical plain. Papyrus wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it. Feeling the dim magic was oddly calming. Was that the magic used by the mousy creature who once lived here, or her attacker who made this building her final resting place. 

The Captain huffed and turned to Papyrus. “Hey, let’s go to your place, I need to talk to you ‘bout something.” Said Undyne. 

The Skeleton wiped the soot off of his gloves and slid them back on as he followed Undyne back out of the front door. Outside the crowd had thinned into a few groups of people chatting. Doggo handed out dog treats to whoever wanted one before lighting his up. He heard a bad joke from his brother who stood talking to some bird monsters he recognised from Grillby’s. Papyrus always thought they seemed to give off a bad vibe, plus they laughed at Sans’ jokes. Definitely shady. 

It was only a minutes’ walk to the Skeleton’s house. When inside they immediately set about making tea together, as they would do during a cooking class at Undyne’s house. 

“Ok, let me get straight to the point, Papyrus.” Undyne sounded tired. “We need to find who’s responsible for this, and that’s gonna take time. Time that I don’t have. Working things out with the Queen and the new structure of the Royal Guard is… challenging. I’m fighting for it to work, heck I’m still fighting to keep it all together, if the Queen had her way there wouldn’t be a Royal Guard right now.” She was right, Undyne hadn’t had the time to give Papyrus his usual training or hang out with him nearly at all since she announced the news of the Guard’s restructure. That news felt like longer ago than it was in reality. 

“What I’m saying is I need all hands on deck right now because I don’t have the time to guide anyone through this. I would give this issue to one of my best but everyone is just as snowed under with work as I am. I don’t have anyone to spare right now. So, the responsibility of solving this falls on you.”

Papyrus looked shocked for a second but the look turned to understanding as he thought about it. Of course, it would be left to him. He was The Great Papyrus, master of puzzles and trainee under Undyne! No one dared make trouble around him and his Sentries. That was surely the very reason Snowdin was so peaceful. Someone had dared disturb that peace and for that he would have some strong words with them, at the very least!   
Understanding turned to determination in his eyes, of course he was up for the task.

Seeing him catch up with what she was saying, Undyne continued. “I’m saying this both as your boss and friend, mostly your boss. I need someone who can contain and fix this situation. You have two choices. Stay in charge of Snowdin and accept that you will get barely any help from me or the Guard. Or, move to New Home and serve as a Guard in the Palace and I’ll have someone else takeover your post. Think about it but I need a decision now.” She spoke slow and firm. 

She poured his tea and handed it over, letting him put a large spoonful of sugar into it. They moved to the couch and sat down. 

He hadn’t expected that. The opportunity to serve so close to the Queen sounded very cool, he imagined himself in the armour of the palace Guards, standing proudly, keeping watch… But that was all, it was a role with no excitement. It mainly included standing still and not moving, which Papyrus, well, couldn’t do for very long at all. Snowdin wasn’t cramped and stuffy like New Home. It has the smell of pine trees, the swirling cloud systems above, the snowfall. It was his home and this was finally his opportunity to prove he could be a great leader.

He met her eyes with steely confidence. “Thank you for the offer, Captain, but Snowdin was entrusted to me so I shall defend it and it’s people.” 

Undyne held his gaze for some long seconds, judging his words and ability to back them up. He held her gaze. Finally, she grinned and punched him a little too hard in the arm, almost spilling his tea. “Haha! Spoken like a hero!” 

His magic telegraphed his confidence and the trust he held in his friends and in return felt Undyne’s turn from frustration to something like relief. Her fins relaxing as the tense atmosphere released for the moment while they sat alone in the warmth. 

She sipped her tea for a long moment until she continued. “Ok, so here is what we know so far. Some kind of explosion, obviously. A _neighbour_ found the place like it was this morning, 6:30 ish. I was told pretty quickly. The lady with the scarf, is an expert on types of magic. She’s helped us with various incidents a lot over the years. Not much to go on but it’s all the info we have.”

More like nothing at all.

Papyrus thought for a minute, nodding as her words sunk in. That wasn’t nearly enough to catch a bad guy, if there was indeed a killer, it could still be some freak accident. This was all some bazaar puzzle which needed solving, right? Luckily, he was an expert at puzzles! 

Tea not so hot now, Papyrus raised the mug but stopped as he caught the smell of burnt rubbish that still clung to his gloves. The smell triggered the memory of being crouched over the charred planks of wood in the small house. His train of thought from the moment came back to him. 

“The ash on the floor, it was cold but not all the way through.” He stated.

“Of course, it was, there was a hole blasted through, its covered in snow!” She countered.

He shook his head. The warrior’s puzzled expression pressured him to continue into a full explanation. “When I was young, me and my brother’s house was very cold. He would light a fire and burn the rubbish we collected. When the fire died down, after a while, we could bury our hands in the ash and they would stay warm for ages.” 

Undyne nodded “Ok, so it happened maybe two, three in the morning? You know if it snowed all night?” 

“Well it was snowing last night and by the time I woke at about six, the snow had stopped. The planks of wood outside had only a tiny layer, no too much.”

“So, it’s safe to say it happened somewhere between two and five AM. Good one, that’s a great start!” She said grinning, seeming to be genuinely impressed. 

Papyrus took the compliment happily. “You should do more puzzles, Undyne, your brain is a muscle too!” The monster sipped his drink scrunching his face in confusion looking off to the side in thought. “One thing I can’t tell you though- Snowdin is small, how did no one hear an explosion?” 

Undyne’s fins twitched before the same baffled look struck her. “Holy crap. You’re right.” 

They finished their drinks. Going back to Ms Truffle’s house they discussed what would be happening with the other monsters the Captain had invited. Eventually Undyne and the other Guards departed after giving Papyrus a few basic pointers on where to start and left three dog sentries to guard the scene. 

 

“Sans, something has, umm, come up.” Papyrus trudged slowly through the snow purposely matching the slower pace of his brother. 

Sans had been sent off to his sentry station after Undyne had returned with Papyrus. She had noticed immediately his ‘unprofessional manner’ and sent him off to do something ‘worthwhile’. Yes, because sitting at sentry posts was really necessary in these new circumstances.   
“Heh, something about that monster being blown up this morning? Just a guess.”

The tall Skeleton quietened a laugh at his brother’s wording. “Yes, unfortunately we have a tragedy on our hands.” Papyrus looked mildly sad but not much else. “However, with me in charge of the Snowdin area and no other guards to spare some help… I am on my own in solving this matter.” 

Sans kicked the snow as he walked “Oh, I see. Urr how do you plan to do that?”

“Well… It seems that finding the monster responsible would be the next course of action. Then once we catch them we can, well, send them to be judged or something or they’ll probably end up locked up.” It was said like he was trying to pitch a business plan. 

The short Skeleton glanced across at Papyrus, he looked like he was in thought with the way his head tilted slightly and stared off into the forest. When Sans didn’t respond, his brother looked anxiously down at him. 

“Don’t suppose we can just sweep it under the snow, can we?” Sans inquired.

Papyrus sighed a long sigh. “Unfortunately, not this time. It happened in town, those less appealing beasts who live in the forest wouldn’t come all the way up here, would they?” He thought for a moment. “Anyway, Undyne had to report it to the Queen, who wants the culprit found to honour Ms Truffle and her family, of course, as is the just thing to do.” He said in a low, dull tone that was uncharacteristic to him. 

Now it was Sans’ turn to sigh. He watched the mist rise into the trees, far too much going on today for his liking, he figured he would spend another long evening at his favourite bar to help relax him later. “Is Undyne going to help at all?” Sans asked.

“When she can spare the time.” The tall Skeleton said shortly. 

Sans frowned, unsure. “What do you think of that? He asked.

“I’m not sure yet honestly, but Undyne is super great! If anyone knows what to so, it’s her, so I guess we should trust her decisions...?” Papyrus shrugged “She wouldn’t let me handle it if she didn’t think I were capable. That I am sure.” There was a long silence, both brothers looking deep in thought. 

“Say, bro?” Sans said, getting his attention. “I don’t suppose any of Undyne’s warrior training involved solving a murder?”

“I’m afraid not.” Confessed Papyrus. He looked lost. “In fact, I’m really not sure where to start, it sounds simple enough but working out a plan of action is already giving me a headache.” 

They approached the wooden bridge which connected the town to the forest path, the cheery lights of the little shops drew them in with the illusion of warmth. Sans reached out to tug at his brother’s scarf, making him stop. 

“Hey, don’t forget, you have me and the Dogs, you aren’t some lone floatin’ bone. You need to show her you can work with the team on this one.” Papyrus smiled and nodded. “Some of the townspeople are experts in different things so it won’t hurt to ask advice, Undyne is still your friend, she might be acting a bit fishy right now but she’s just doing her job.” 

The tall Skeleton ignored the joke and nodded, looking a little more positive. “I still don’t know where to start though.” He said with a thinking pose. “Sorry I seem, well, not myself. This is a lot metaphorically digest.”

Sans flashed him a smile, “Well, this isn’t just Junior Jumble, is it?”

“But it is still a puzzle!” Cried Papyrus, with renewed enthusiasm. “And with enough pieces, any puzzle can be solved!” 

“Yeah!” Sans cheered along with him.

They began walking again. Sans tapped his fingers against his leg in though. “I’ll ask Alphys.” He concluded. 

Papyrus grinned “Isn’t that your answer for most things?”

“Of course, you know the best I can do in the thinking department is ask someone more qualified to think for me.” 

“Is that why you just nod and say yes to everything I say?” 

Sans nodded “Yep”. Both laughed as they reached the colourful signpost, informing them they had reached Snowdin Town.

 

Alphys had been sympathetic to the brothers’ predicament. “I-I’ll help out anyway I can!” She chirped “…And they can’t sweep it under the rug?... Or the snow in your case?”

“You’re the second person to say those exact words.” Sans mused “No, I think the queen is taking more of a ‘justice for all’ approach.” He shrugged.

Alphys looked off somewhere behind him “Well it’s a n-nice thought, but it puts you guys in Snowdin in a horrible position. Undyne is really busy, she doesn’t know what to do with the new Guard delegations… though I probably shouldn’t tell anyone that.” She stammered. 

“Well it’s understandable that she’s flapping… eh?”

The lizard frowned, “Flapping?” 

“Eh?” He grinned like a maniac.

“Don’t.”

“Flapping like a fish.”

“Sans stop.”

His grin curled up to his eyes, “Ehhh!”

“Come on you didn’t come to my house to torture me.” She played offended and scrunched up her face in disgust. “So, what did you need?”

“I don’t really know, neither of us know where to start, the Dogs were pleasantly useless. This has never happened before, in any Resets, you know?” The Skeleton smirked.

She pouted, “So you’re asking me how to solve a murder?” 

Sans nodded, his face fell, this was ridiculous. Why was he burdening Alphys with this? He didn’t even know what he really wanted to ask her. He should just leave.

“THAT’S AWESOME!” She screamed, quickly covering her mouth as her own excitement. Sans was startled by her outburst. “Do you realise how long I’ve waited for someone to ask me that?!” 

“S-seriously?” He asked, forgetting his previous dilemma. 

“Yeah, I love detective shows, they have TONS of them on the surface and I have a bunch of originals from the dump that they never aired down here.” She mock whispered “Cuz’ they’re too violent!” 

They both laughed, Alphys’ magic fluttering about her as she enthused about TV dramas. 

The lizard gasped “I know! Oooh Papyrus could watch some and learn how to be a detective!” 

She looked expectantly at Sans, who nodded and agreed. Alphys grabbed his hand and dragged him up to her impressive collection of human films in a sprint, he could swear it was the fastest he’d moved in years. 

The next fifteen minutes were spent watching the lizard zip between bookshelves giving long summaries of her favourites and accidently spoiling the endings and major plot lines of most of them. Sans mused that it was nice seeing her passionate about something, considering she didn’t usually come out so good from the human’s Resets. It felt like old times when they would work together as young lab assistants. Hanging out after hours in some shabby place in the city, chatting about the silly antics of the other scientists. 

“Sorry, I’m talking too much aren’t I.” She said, shaking him out of his thoughts.

“S’ok, you looked at that dust yet?” Sans asked.

“Flowey’s? In storage right now. I have a few tests planned when I’m less busy. I’ll keep you posted.” Alphys chirped.

She leaned over and whispered, “Undyne almost found out about our trip to Waterfall. If you get asked, we went to see Mettaton’s new show and I fell into a pond on the way home. Ok?”

“Uh, sure. I’ll bear that in mind.” He replied quietly, not sure why they were keeping their voice down. Sans imagined Undyne suddenly jumping through a wall and throwing spears at them. The problem was, the idea wasn’t all that farfetched, judging from experience. 

“Great!” She grinned a little too wide to be comfortable, “I can’t imagine how upset she’d be!”

Finishing the strange can of soda she had thrown him, Sans decided it was time to get back home.   
He thanked her for her help. At least he knew they had another set of claws on board. Who knows, maybe Alphys was right, this could be fun. 

 

Detective shows were boring, Papyrus concluded. When his brother had brought home an armful of DVDs and VHS tapes there had been a good variety and amount to keep him busy for the next few days. Then Undyne had turned up with a couple of disks with names of shows scribbled on them in thick black ink (They ended up being jumpy recordings of a few Alphys had). Snowdrake and Dogaressa arrived with a couple each. Then Grillby handed over a large box full of about forty, including one hidden near the bottom of the box titled ‘High School Musical’, Papyrus wasn’t sure whether that was supposed to be there but who knew the fire elemental was such a collector! 

Two days passed sitting in front of the TV making notes and studying how the characters in the show worked. He was restless and snuck out for walks whenever he could. The house was now covered in DVDs and tapes, they were stacked up in two large piles either side of the TV, ‘seen’ and ‘not seen’. 

Sans sat beside him and grinned at the way Papyrus furiously scribbled at his notes despite there being nothing noteworthy happening on screen, some characters flirting with what must have been the cheesiest writing and acting the humans could manage. 

“Making notes on how to get a date?” Sans chuckled.

“Of cause not!” Papyrus snapped, “I’m working out who the killer was based on the equation I’ve observed all these shows using. Also, there is nothing a dating master like myself could possible learn from this”.

“So, what is your killer dating strategy?”

Papyrus huffed and dramatically rolled his eyes. “Well it certainly doesn’t involve terrible puns like I’m sure yours does.” He said and Sans laughed. “I mean look at this man, hes not even used the Seducing Power of Puzzles ™, hes just flirting away like he knows something I don’t”.

“That’s a woman”. Sans stated.

“What? No, he is a he! Look at those muscular shoulders, a fine gentleman like myself is able to recognise others of my own fine sex!” He said, flexing. 

Sans frowned, “Oh… Well looks like I’ve had it wrong all this time. Actually, that makes the dialogue much more understandable.”

They sat in a comfortable silence watching the show, the film was jumpy and some of the audio would cut out occasionally, to be expected if it was found in the dump. It was watchable though, maybe not incredibly enjoyable but watchable. 

“So who’s the baddie?” Sans asked. 

Papyrus checked his noted one more time before giving a concluding nod. “It was Debra.”

Sans thought on it for a minute, “What? No.” 

“Well it is.” Papyrus stated, jotting down something else.

“Can’t be. How?” 

“She’s the one blackmailing Tod because she knows about his affair with Brian, but she needs Tod and Sarah to stay together because otherwise they’ll lose funding for the Knitting Club.” He said, not looking up.

Sans crossed his arms, “And how do you know that?” 

“Because there’s a scene where you can see the incriminating documents in the background, also something Brian says when they interview him.”

Sans was impressed, really impressed. Papyrus continued, “Also it’s the basic pattern which all of these follow, especially in this series. It’s always the most innocent seeming character to trick the audience. That one character you least expect, to subvert your expectations… Also, I’ve seen this episode before, I just liked it so I’m watching it again.”

“Oh… So, any idea where you want to start with this thing?” Sans could only hope the situation they had on their hands would be as easy for Papyrus to solve as these shows. 

The tall Skeleton nodded, “Later I’m going to talk to Ms. Truffle’s daughter, she was very private so maybe her daughter will shed some light on this mystery. What will you be doing?”

“Weeeell, I was thinking I could have a nap, go try and sell Hotdogs for an hour or something and then Grillby’s-.”

“No lazy bones, I mean the murder case!” His brother interrupted him. 

“But my afternoon nap.” Sans whined.

Papyrus sprang from the sofa, causing the old thing to creak in protest, “There is no time for afternoon naps when there is a case to solve!” He proclaimed throwing on his boots and running to the door. “Sans, your laziness has inspired me!” 

He left without saying another word.


	6. Cluedo

Papyrus knocked on the door to the tiny house and stood back. It was an oval shape, made of wood and only just taller than him. A rustle was heard inside followed by a rodent like monster who creaked the door open and peered out. 

“Hello! You are Ms Truffle’s daughter, correct?” The Skeleton smiled warmly and the mousey creature’s eyes lit up in understanding. He knew perfectly well who she was, though they had never really spoken. It was polite to ask anyway. He folded his hands neatly behind his back. “I’m very sorry for your loss, miss. I’m afraid I have to ask you some questions in regards to your Mother.” That’s what they said in the shows, right?

She pushed the door open fully. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.” She said in a gentle tone, a hopeful look in her eyes. Her little nose gave an involuntary wiggle. “The guard are interested in my Mother?” She seemed astonished. Her magic buzzed with happiness. 

“Eh, yes!” He tried to mirror her delight, rather than her surprise. 

The mouse beckoned him to enter. He crouched through the tiny round door. The house opened up as one larger room with two small rooms off from that. He sat down on a few pillows on the floor as she hopped to a small stove in the corner, orange light reflecting her silky fur from a few old gas lamps. Papyrus thanked her as a hot mug of what looked to be herbal tea was passed to him and she curled into a beanbag opposite him, pulling her large navy jumper up around her neck. 

“So, what did you want to know?” She said with a patient smile.

Her hospitality calmed the awkwardness he felt initially about having this conversation. In the TV shows he watched, the relatives always seemed so distressed during this part. Understandably, of course. “We’re holding an investigation into what might have happened to your mother. The circumstances were very odd and-.“ She cut him off.

“A full investigation?” She repeated back at him. Blinking dramatically in disbelief. 

“Yes, the Queen and Guard would like you to know that finding out what happened and catching the culprit is on a list of their highest priorities.” Ok just roll with it, he thought. 

Her ears wiggled and her nose twitched again, “This is brilliant, I didn’t even expect someone to come and give condolences, let alone investigating her death.”

That took him aback, what were the people’s opinion of the Royal Guard if it was so shocking to them that they were trying to catch a killer and protect others from getting hurt? It puzzled him but he would think on it later. 

The skeleton flipped through his notes quickly in the candle light. While watching the various crime dramas, he had written down some of the questions the detectives in the shows asked the deceased’s next of kin. Papyrus didn’t always understand why certain questions were necessary, the next of kin were not likely to have committed the crime. He had tried his best to tailor the questions for the situation and leave out anything he deemed too emotionally troubling. Thankfully, this monster seemed quite calm. 

“I h-have some questions, if you don’t mind me asking?” The pages of his flip pad creased between his fingers. 

She took a sip of her herbal tea and motioned with a tiny hand in a gesture which said ‘go ahead’. 

“Where were you on the night of the incident?” He asked slowly and what he hoped was tactfully enough. As if this alone would push her to be too upset to continue answering any more questions. 

“At the Bunny family’s burrow. Me, my cousin, all of the Bunny family. We have a biweekly baking evening. Its very popular, you see.” She squeaked. Papyrus had heard of this club; the married dog couple spoke about the various cakes they made quite often. “A few people from Waterfall also come along.” Though her tone was sombre, she spoke with a confidence and need to impart this knowledge onto whoever would listen. 

She continued, “My mother was supposed to attend, she usually looks forward to it. She sent me a text to say she would be held back a while, to start without her. Do you want to see it? The message I mean.” 

Papyrus hesitated, “No don’t worry about that, I trust you.” He grinned. 

She gave a tiny appreciative smile in response before carrying on, “No one was surprised when she didn’t show up. My mother has a habit of dropping off to sleep, soon as she hits her favourite chair.” The mouse’s smile quivered with emotion. With a sip of tea, she calmed herself. 

The skeleton nodded. He realised he had no pen to take notes with. ‘The clever detectives on the television never write things down though,’ he thought, ‘So I’ll be fine!’. On to the next question he went. “Do you have any idea who would want to hurt your mother?” He asked, taking a long sip of tea. It was- oh gosh what was in this?! Papyrus stopped himself from outwardly gagging on the drink. 

She shook her head, “No one I can think of… I know she met a lot of dodgy people while working, I suppose that could have had something to do with it.” The monster mused. 

“What exactly was her job?” Papyrus asked.

“She worked in financing. Going through the earnings of every business in the Underground and finding the fraudulent ones. There was a lot of work, as you can imagine and she was one of the best, always had a good head for numbers and people, my Mum.” A tired smile crossed her furry face. “Because of her, loads of bad businesses got found out and shut down, they even helped the guard track down gangs. Because of her a lot of bad monsters were sent to judgement. All the money they took from them was donated to help the community, that was what King Asgore wanted.” Her magic radiated with a pride for the accomplishments of her mother. 

Taken aback, Papyrus had no idea little old Ms Truffle was such a hero. “Wowie. I wish I’d known sooner, I’m sure she would have lots of tips to improve my Royal Guard training.” 

Her daughter giggled, “I’m sure she would have liked to talk to you, she was always a fan of ‘the dedicated next generation’”. She moved her fingers in air quotes as she spoke. “She moved out of New Home for some peace and quiet, but she couldn’t stay away from the work, even after she retired.”

“Did any of these gangs or other baddies ever threaten her?” He asked, intrigued by the story of a neighbour he had never bothered to get to know.  
She thought hard. “I think so. I was very young when we moved to Snowdin, I don’t remember our home in the Capital at all. She wouldn’t tell me much, didn’t like to burden me with her problems, you see. Mother made me keep our exact address quite secret, for most of the time I was at school. I don’t think she was hiding from a specific group of people, she just b-became more of a public name than she hoped for, always b-being so private.” She sniffled, tears welling in her eyes. 

A spike of emotion hit the skeleton also. “Thank you for a-all that. Last question: I’m sure you saw her house. Do you have any idea what could have caused that explosion?” 

The little monster pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and mopped the tears from her eyes shaking her head. Mouthing a silent ‘no’.  
Forgetting professionalism, Papyrus placed his half drank tea on the floor and moved to the mouse’s beanbag. He drew her into a hug which she returned, crying into his scarf. 

“Please, p-please find who did this.” She pleaded. 

For the first time, even after seeing the scene of the crime, this felt real. These were real people, people who lived on his doorstep. Their lives were not some television drama, this wasn’t good acting, but a loved one left in the wake of a terrible incident. 

“I will.” He said with steely conviction as he scrunched a hand through the material of her thick jumper. The orange candlelight dancing silently around them. 

 

The rest of the morning was spent running about the town, collecting the thoughts and whereabouts of the baking club Ms Truffle had been preparing to attend. The general opinion was that the older monster was private, good natured and made a damn good apple pie. After being invited to join the bi-weekly club by the forth person in a row, Papyrus jotted down the date and time of the next one. 

In summary, none could think of anyone who would want her dead. 

Papyrus trudged back home, this was going to be harder than anticipated. Maybe that strike of genius he’d had on the first day was pure luck. Pfft, what was he saying?! These pieces would fall into place soon enough with a master detective like him in town!

There were not many notes to be made, when it came to jotting them down. The skeleton came to the incredibly clever conclusion that he would return to Ms Truffles’ house and take another look at the scene of the crime. _A truly great idea!_

 

The day was moving very slowly. Guarding the grounds of a violent murder was not what Sans would have generally been doing on a common day, though he could admit it was better than the clammy heat of his Hotlands hotdog stand, where he probably would have been otherwise. 

Undyne had advised Papyrus to keep two guards at the building at all times. To the tall skeleton, ‘At all times’ seemed to mean ‘during working hours’. So, the Sentries were only asked to stand around for the times of their usual shifts. No one disputed this. 

Currently, Sans shared his post with Doggo. The grumpy mutt said almost nothing. He observed how the dog had periods of fidgeting punctuated by loud sniffing. Sans had no desire to interact with his co-worker, who he shared an odd relationship with. The almost blind monster could never seem to decide whether ‘Shortstuff the Skeleton’ was his favourite drinking buddy or the most hated monster in the Underground. 

A flurry of bouncing footsteps made them both turn. Papyrus jogged towards them, he looked genuinely pleased that, for one, anyone had bothered watching this post and secondly, that Sans had even bothered coming to work today, let alone stayed where he was supposed to.  
“Hello you two, had any trouble keeping people out of here?” Papyrus asked.

“Pfft, no.” Doggo said, “One of the bunnies made us some hot chocolate a while ago. Does that count?” 

The tall skeleton thought for a moment, “Probably not, unless they had some ulterior motive. If the drink was laced with sedatives, they could sneak passed you.” He said in a thinking pose. 

“Not sure his needs sedatives.” Barked Doggo in amusement, shooting a glance at Sans. 

The smaller monster laughed and nodded in response from his seat in the snow. “Yeah, ya might be barking up the right tree with that one.”

Papyrus relayed to them an overview of the interviews he had done with the baking club and Ms Truffle’s daughter. “I’m trying to work out the next lead of this investigation. I figured being back here may bring to light some new evidence.” 

“Spoken like a proper detective.” Sans said “Sure ya’ will with that attitude.” 

“Well thank you, Sans!” He said gratefully, with a dramatic gesture. “Now, lets do some investigating!” Both other monsters yelped as they were excitedly pulled through the door of the little house. 

A decent amount of snow had now fallen across most of the exposed wooden remains. Furniture and decorations still intact were now damp from exposure to the elements. It was the first time Sans had seen the carnage behind the front door, he’d had little interest to see the state of the place.  
What a mess it was, he took in the scope of what had been a large controlled blast. What magical residue had clung to the place originally, had now faded. 

“Well, let’s look for clues, I guess.” Said Papyrus, who sounded rather lost now that the wreck was in front of him. 

Doggo took to digging through the snow which had covered most of the floor, occasionally stopping to examine items or dust ashy wood away from boxes and other litter. 

Papyrus began to sift through a cabinet of papers, mumbling something about dodgy finances. Having been stored away, the papers were easily the least damaged objects in the room.

Sans walked back into the hallway area, he examined the entrance of the house. The doors lock had been blown through, from the outside all the way through, enough that the lock was hanging on by a few splinters. Sawdust pooled on the doormat beside an umbrella and a small pair of boots.  
Clearly Ms Truffle hadn’t welcomed her guest. No damage graced the hallway or the tiny kitchen unit off to the side of it. A few dirty dinner pans littered the work top. 

A yelp of surprise made the skeleton poke his head back around to where the others worked.  
Doggo shook his paws vigorously. “I, ur, just stuck my hand in. Urr, I think it was her dust.” He said in a flustered tone. 

Sans confirmed that it was indeed the mouse’s dust. His tone flat and unconcerned. Doggo gave him an incredulous look from where he sat. An unasked but obvious question of ‘How can you say that so calmly?’. 

Sans shrugged. He turned back to the hallway, leaving Doggo looking flustered at the pile of ask, slightly lighter in colour compared to that around it.  
He tried to put himself in the shoes of this would be killer. They were not welcome, whether they knocked on the door or not. They travelled the few steps down the hall. Sans eyed the line of scorch marks and worked out roughly from where the attacker must have stood to get this angle. 

This must have taken a hell of a lot of magic. There were not many monsters he could think of who were capable of this kind of destruction from a clean single blast, if the blackened walls were to be believed. 

Fire magic was notoriously powerful, even when the user didn’t fully have the heart to attack. These walls didn’t look flame licked. 

There was a patch of charred wall near the door of Grillby’s, where some poor monster had been sent running never to return. Years later and the burn had not moved. Something about reminding people to pay their tabs, as the flame monster had said at some point. 

It resembled more the mess left behind by his blaster attacks. White hot plasma, a pure magical energy. Sans frowned in though, what he used were artificial weapons with the purpose of killing without prejudice, inherited from… someone. Normal soul magic didn’t do this.  
‘Someone must have really fuckin’ hated Ms Truffle.’ He thought.

The poor monster had been backed into a corner, terrified, from where her dust had fallen.

Doggo grumbled under his breath. Before pulling back from his search. “Are ya’ totally sure we can’t just cover this up? Pass it off as some nonsense happening?” 

“No.” Papyrus replied firmly, “I have assured Ms Truffle’s daughter that there will be justice for her Mother. She seemed thrilled when I told her we would be looking into it.” 

The dog monster snuffled in annoyance, “I bet she did.” He spat under his breath. 

Sans spoke up finally, “So, lookin’ for anything in particular there, bro?”

“Somewhat. Ms Truffle’s daughter told me her mother worked in finances. Specifically finding fraudulent businesses. It looks from these that any fines taken from those were given to community projects.” Replied the tall skeleton, still studying the large cabinet of paperwork. Some of it newer while other bits were dirtied and crinkled by time. 

“So, what you thinkin’, some old fraudster wanted revenge for some fine?” Asked Doggo, a hint of scepticism in his voice.

“While I do prefer to think that monsters have the best intentions… yes, that is what I was wondering.” Said Papyrus. “Though most of these are back from when she lived in the City. Ms Truffle was quite old, she hardly did work like this anymore.” He mused.

They fell into another round of silence where Papyrus went back to skimming the old paperwork. Doggo and Sans seemed to use the time to take in the scene. 

Between the times of three and five in the morning. Sans knew he was outside at that time, hazily walking the streets and dozing on a park bench. He was sure he hadn’t seen anyone else out that night; now he silently hoped no one had seen him out there either. 

Upon waking, if he had turned around, there was a certainty he would have seen this house freshly smouldering in the morning light. 

“Still doesn’t explain it thought.” Doggo barked.

“Which part?” Said Sans.

“How no one heard this damn thing go off.” He concluded. 

And for that, Sans had very few ideas. 

The three Sentries left the house shortly after. Movement in the corner of his eye made Sans turn. The new monster, Egg, was quietly scuttling out of sight. It seemed like Sans was the only one who noticed the six limbed creature. Had they been listening or snooping around? Sure looked like it to him. 

The skeleton was unsure why he hadn’t spoken up to his company. Something about it didn’t seem right and he felt it unwise to mention it to his brother. 

Papyrus disappeared after that and the rest of Sans and Doggo’s shift went without occurrence. The minute they could, they left for Grillby’s. The rest of the Dog Squad had not arrived yet at the early hour. As time passed, more of the usual patrons arrived until by mid evening all of the usual folk were there, plus several of the newer residents. Of the ones Sans had been introduced to, there was the bug couple sat contently, as well as Shrubberthree, who had waddled in with the lizard, Goldwell in tow. 

“Aye, I gotta ask, are you two married? Bonded?” Came the voice of the gruff fish looking monster who directed his question at the bug couple.  
This caused several others to draw their attention to the exchange, Sans included.

The bugs looked about and blushed, though they didn’t seem upset by the question. 

“Oi, ya can’t ask things like that!” Interrupted a pink birdlike monster who sat near. “Just ignore him, ok, lovelies.” 

The large green bug giggled, “Oh we don’t mind, really.” She exchanged a cheery look with the much smaller bug beside her. “Both, actually.” She continued.

Their onlookers all seemed impressed. The pink bird hummed in approval.  
“Well aren’t you just the match!” The fish monster raised his glass at them before downing half his drink. 

Beansprout, the smaller dark brown bug spoke up with a voice as small as he was, compared to his wife anyway. “Married for the last seven, bound for the last two and a half.” 

A toothy creature spoke up, “Bit more like that and the Underground’rd be a much happier place.” 

“Gotta be careful with ya soul n’ all though, haven’t ya?” The pink bird said fretfully. “Theres a reason most don’t do it. Some critters are married damn near their whole live n’ they never bond.”

“Aye, I gotta ask, whats it like exactly?” The fish asked again. 

Pink bird tutted and rolled her eyes again at his apparent intrusiveness. “He wants tips, you see.” She joked.

The bug couple, met each other’s goggle looking eyes and giggled sweetly. “Well we used to be quite different, but since we became bound, it’s a bit like we’ve merged in a lot of ways.” Said Beansprout.

Honey continued, “Personality, magical energy, strong emotions. Its all shared between us. Sometimes thoughts or impulses, too.” She said, shifting some of her knitted dress from where some threads tangled around her spines. 

Sans spoke up for the first time in the discussion, “Good job you don’t bug each other then.”

“We always knew we would be good together. Now we know we were right.” Said Beansprout, with as much of a wide smile as he could give with a plated exoskeleton and mandibles. 

“You could say that you’re, ovipositive.” Said the skeleton, which earned him a giggle from at least the couple. 

Someone toasted ‘to love in the Underground’, with which the whole bar joined in, even if they hadn’t been following the conversation.  
Sans sat quietly, contemplating what the pair had said. 

Grillby leaned against the bar opposite the skeleton, polishing a glass in his hand. ‘You look sour.’

“Do I?” Asked Sans.

The elemental replied into his mind, ‘You do. Does the thought of bonding worry you? Or commitment in general?’ 

Sans considered his question, “Hadn’t really thought about it. Yeah, I guess both do.” 

‘Those two seem incredibly happy.’ Grillby stated.

“Oh, they must be.” He confirmed, “Almost nothing but positivity, never had to use violence and the most crack free souls I’ve seen all month.” He said almost mockingly.

‘Why so bitter?’

“Well they’re bound, aren’t they?” Sans said, as if it was the obvious answer. 

Grillby seemed to nudge him with his magic field to continue.

The monster did so without much encouragement, “It’s like losing ya free will, isn’t it. All those decent monsters who get corrupted cuz’ of a bad bond. Its letting go of your entire being, entire access to your mind and memory… It makes me feel a bit sick.” He kept his voice low, meeting Grillby’s eyes at the end. 

A flicker of disappointment crossed the fire monster’s magic. ‘Is that your whole opinion?’ He asked.

Sans nodded, “Sounds like a death sentence to me.” He said firmly. 

Grillby nodded, from where he wiped down one end of the bar. Sans glared towards the threadbare seats of the booth the couple were squashed into, exchanging happy conversation with the toothy monster and Pink Bird who had moved to their table. 

The silence which stood between them did not last. The door was roughly shoved open. A very familiar attention raising cough sounded and a very surprised Sans looked behind him to see his brother. 

Papyrus stood at the ready with a pen and flip pad. He sauntered up to the bar and lent across to Grillby. “Good afternoon, Sir, I was wondering if I could ask some of these monsters a few questions about the trouble recently? Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.” He added quickly. Seemingly unaware of the whole crowd watching him. 

If the flame monster had been surprised at all by this, he hid it perfectly, as he seemed to do with most things. Grillby just motioned for the skeleton to do whatever it was he was up to. 

Papyrus thanked him before turning to face the room full of people. He coughed again to get their attention, a move which was entirely unnecessary since everyone seemed to recognise the setup for an entertaining scenario, and had turned to watch.  
“As you may be aware, there has been something of a troubling incident recently. I, The Great Papyrus, as appointed by Captain Undyne, as the lead of the Snowdin Sentries am the head investigator of this case.” He said, the pages of the notebook fluttering as the monster gestured wildly. “I therefor ask of your assistance in this matter by answering a few questions.” 

Doggo grunted in a quiet laugh, shaking his head. A few others shrugged or nodded. It was likely that this was the first time any of them had been asked to do anything like this. 

Thanking them, Papyrus chose a table of three nearest to where he stood. He asked them the basic questions, where they were on the night of the murder or what their relationship with Ms Truffle was. Occasionally throwing in some rather odd ones too. Papyrus was met with a mixed but mostly positive reaction from the patrons. Well, no one fled the building at the prospect of being questioned, which was a good start.

Sans watched him curiously as his brother flicked between random tables. He clearly became confused which ones he had already asked.  
“Need a hand, bro?”

Papyrus scuttled over. Both skeletons puzzled over the notepad for a moment. “Some of these questions are pretty good. I especially like the ‘favourite thing to go with pasta?’ one you’ve asked some of them.” Sans winked.

“Well I do like to keep it varied.” Admitted the tall skeleton. 

Sans pointed out a few tables he was yet to question and even volunteered a few extra questions, including varied casual ones. His favourite one being ‘dolphins, real or myth?’.

So far, most of the monsters scattered about the bar had been rather accepting of the little interrogation. However, it was late and a few were getting rather tired and rather drunk. A wolf looking guy got quite rowdy and Papyrus had to give him some space when threats were made. 

The skeleton also managed to somehow offend little Shrubberthree, who crossed their leaves and refused to answer a thing. 

“Where were you exactly at the time of the incident?” Papyrus asked the many eyed lizard.

“Stopped over at the inn after helping my friend here with some misbehaving appliances.” Goldwell said, his nose stuck up in disapproval. At the skeletons scrutiny he continued, “Well, I am their landlord, for goodness sake!”

All three of the plant’s heads bobbed up and down in defence of their friend.  
Goldwell gave his theory on the strange monsters who lurked in the forest and finished by recommending that Papyrus do some research into the ‘Secret Human of Snowdin’ legend. All of this was feverously jotted down with great thanks. 

Though upon leaving their table Sans did not fail to notice how the lizard rolled his many eyes and spat some remark under his breath about being disturbed and the ridiculousness of all this.

The last stop on the tour of tables was a monster Sans hadn’t even noticed being present. Egg sat in a dark corner like he had grown there. Stiff and volatile. 

“Hello there, my oval friend!” Papyrus greeted cheerily as he approached. “If you wouldn’t mind spending five minutes of your-.” 

One of Egg’s hands shot out in a stopping motion and Papyrus froze in his tracks. The pair stood fixed on each other for several long seconds. Slowly the skeleton seemed to stutter back into movement. “N-now, its ok. No need for that. I can just, you know- leave.” He spoke quiet and tentative. 

Sans, who peered around a few other patrons frowned in confusion at the odd exchange. Until he saw it. His brother’s soul had been turned blue and was being held in place by the egg. Instantly, Sans went to move into the situation. 

Only a second later, Egg’s hold was released. Papyrus rolled back on his feet several paces, collected himself and without a further word, hurried back to where his brother was. 

Sans was halfway out of his seat when Papyrus met him. “You ok bro?” The smaller skeleton asked. He looked up to where Grillby stood keeping a watchful eye. The elemental had clearly noticed the beginning of a potential altercation though Sans could guess his friend didn’t understand the exact nature of the magic itself. 

Egg used blue magic. Huh, how uncommon. 

“Oh yes of cause, just a minor misunderstanding. Tragedies like these can make people defensive, I imagine.” Papyrus replied, placing his notepad between himself and Sans. 

“You sure? Don’t need to crack any eggs now, do I?” He offered with a grin, half serious. 

His brother waved him away, “Oh don’t be silly, not sure you could crack a regular egg, knowing your magic, Sans!” He laughed, apparently over the momentary dilemma. He pointed out a few scribbled lines in the notebook, translating the barely legible writing.  
“The fish guy said Ms Truffle seemed very nervous the days before her murder. Its not the first time she had been threatened by a business she shut down, says the lady with the black fur. Toothy over there recommended beetroot and jelly with pasta. The three headed plant received money for their project in Waterfall from Ms Truffle’s business a few times over the year. That guy over there told me yellow was his favourite colour. That lizard looking guy really liked your dolphin question, he had some really interesting thoughts on the matter.” Papyrus relayed to Sans and also Grillby, who seemed quite interested.

“Nice one bro, sounds like the start of a _thriller_ case.”

Papyrus squinted his eyes at his brother, “Yes, indeed. However, I must ask, what were you doing? Someone said they saw you near Ms Truffle’s home very close to the time of her death.” He probed. 

Oh.  
Completely caught off guard by this, Sans was positive he had given away his guilt. Either by his body language or magic field. This turned out to be true when Papyrus continued. 

“Hmm, so you were there then.” His eyes narrowed to slits, “What were you up to?” 

Time for more of his classic improvisation skill. “I, urr, was here.” 

Papyrus waited for him to elaborate. “…I’m not that silly, Sans. You hadn’t been out for days let alone that evening. I went to bed at precisely the late hour of 10:07, at that time, you were in your room.” He concluded with firm finality. 

“… I, urr, went out.” 

“Go on.” The other skeleton pressured. 

“I came here, to see my friend.” He looked up at Grillby, who looked just at intrigued by all this as Papyrus. “I left a while after you fell asleep.” What was he doing? He hoped beyond hope that this didn’t sound as bullshit as it did in his head. “Sorry I didn’t tell you.” 

Papyrus frowned as he processed the statement. Then something seemed to click and his eyes widened in understanding. “Is this true, Grillby?”  
Sans didn’t look at his friend. He kept his head totally blank, Grillby was very skilled at knowing what was going on in someone’s mind, Sans had always wondered if he could indeed read them. 

‘Yes, Sans was here. All night.’ Was the bartender’s reply into their minds. 

He stilled in thought. Papyrus nodded. Looked between both monsters in question. Started packing away his notebook, kept nodding.  
“And-.” He coughed, “How long has this been going on?”

He was in too deep to back out now. “W-well, about a month. Sorry I didn’t tell you, didn’t want you to be hot n’ bothered by it.” Oh no, not a good pun to use. 

“Well. I’m very happy for you both.” Papyrus said, staring passed them to some point on the wall. “Ok, umm, that’s all, I think. Thank you for your time.” He said, getting off his stool carefully, nodding. 

“Ok, bye, bro.” Sans said emotionlessly. 

He carried on to the door. The tall skeleton turned back, looked again between his brother and the flame monster. He turned away, nodding, closing the door surprisingly quietly behind him. 

Well that worked. Maybe?

Sans looked back. Grillby stood very tall behind the bar, an unreadable wall of flame. Well this was awkward.  
‘Really?’ 

“Urr.” The skeleton shrugged. It would be very dangerous to improvise this part of the conversation. 

The bartender’s magic field squirmed with something, it felt mildly unpleasant. ‘What _were_ you doing that night?’ There was a feeling of accusation behind the words. 

“Does it matter?” Sans replied defensively.

A few red sparks shot out of the top of the elemental’s head. ‘I think I deserve to know after this.’

He shrugged, “Well I wasn’t killin’ an old mouse, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Picking the label from his ketchup bottle became a very interesting task. Maybe the words to get him out of this mess would be hidden behind the sticky paper. 

‘I never assumed you were.’ Grillby was persistent. He wasn’t moving.

Sans huffed. The strong smell of grease and dog biscuits became suddenly rather noticeable to him. “I had a, you know, a moment. Walked around in the snow in the middle of the night, fell asleep on the bench by my place. I didn’t see her house when I woke up, just went home.” 

Grillby nodded. Still not leaving.

Suddenly feeling quite annoyed, Sans continued. “Come on, don’t judge me, that night was the furthest I’d ever got before a Reset. I didn’t think I was gonna be as lucky as I was. But we’re still here aren’t we. So I was right, about um’ not coming back.” He took a long drink of ketchup and finished rather bitterly, “You know I did nearly end up at yours. I stood outside for fifteen minutes at some stupid time in the morning.” He was far too sober for this sort of discussion, Sans was also very conscious of how busy the room still was. He was probably distracting Grillby from his work. 

‘You know I wouldn’t have minded.’

“Yeah, I know.” The skeleton eventually admitted. 

‘I assume this means there’ll be rumours about us then.’ He said with a humorous edge.

Sans laughed, “By tomorrow morning probably.”

His magic displaying his amusement, the elemental continued ‘You’ve really done it this time.’ 

“Sorry if I went too far, I shouldn’t have brought you into this.” Sans said, very much meaning the apology. 

Grillby shrugged, “I do not mind. Talk can be meaningless.” 

“And this is the most you’ve talked in ages, who knew all I had to do to turn up the heat was say you were hot!” He winked.

‘Not sure that works, even in this context.’ Admitted the elemental.

They were both finding this very funny now. Sans of cause showing it much more than the casually stoic flame monster, who’s perfectly calm demeanour could not be broken by something this trivial. The night crept on and Sans, who had managed to avoid heavy alcohol, despite his earlier encounter was saying his goodbyes around the bar. 

“Sorry for earlier.” He said, despite already apologising. “Its probably best if we just forget tonight ever happened. Thanks for the save though.” 

‘You sound like an ex-girlfriend of mine. Also, a word of advice.’ Grillby said.

“Heh, I won’t take that as a compliment. Go on.” He grinned, in a much better mood than earlier. 

‘You really need to get laid, Sans.’ Replied Grillby.

It seemed the reply was in Sans’ mind alone, thanks to the lack of reaction to the fairly quiet room. Sans’ grin twitched, “Yeah, no, I don’t even want to think about that. I’d make a ‘not being in the bone zone’ joke, but I think it’d just be overplayed.” 

Grillby didn’t react. Sans turned to leave. 

‘And Sans.’ He called again, ‘Next time, knock.’ 

Sans stopped and turned back to his friend, gave him his most sincere smile and turned to leave. “Ok, Grillbz, I’ll remember.”  
He left the cozy warmth of the bar and stepped out into the cold. 

 

A/n- Thought I might borrow the soul bonding idea from the fandom, kinda like the idea. I think its pretty amusing how certain ideas become so widely used that they are practically considered cannon at this point. Like edgy alturnate universes or ghost dicks.  
I love this fandom, its absolutly wild sometimes, I think you need a sense of humour to appreciate it sometimes.  
Thanks again stopping by!  
-Zazzy


	7. If you go down to the woods today...

Papyrus awoke earlier than usual during the first lights of dawn. He had a mission for himself today, and he would not let it go uncompleted. Like any good day, he started out with a nice healthy breakfast of reheated pasta. The container he chose from the numerous stored in the fridge was three days old and consisted of sprout, onion a large amount of cheese, a sophisticated creamy white wine sauce and of cause, spaghetti noodles.   
Ahh, breakfast really was the most important meal of the day! 

He reread the notes he had taken over the past week then gathered some sticky tape and pencils of different colours. Papyrus doodled little sketches of all the monsters who had given the most interesting information, seemed suspicious or who were involved somehow. He taped them to the living room wall. He did the same, writing and sticking key bits of information below the monsters they concerned. 

When he was done, he stood back, admiring his creation. Viewing all the information in one go was much easier than flicking through his notes! A cool idea was to be expected though from Papyrus, Master Detective! 

His clock read 9:12, he heard people outside clumping through the snow on their morning commute. Sans’ alarm had sounded a few minuets previous, followed by a crash and bump, which was probably the thing being thrown against a wall and knocking his clutter flying. Maybe he could get a new alarm clock as his brother’s Gyftmas present, though it would have to be incredibly sturdy or infused with some spell, to make it unbreakable. 

Gyftmas was only a week away, a festive holiday held in Snowdin. Which sat as the only thing to really put the town on the map. A few residents had already decorated tree branches to hang outside their house, as was tradition. The amount of gifts below the tree in the centre of town was ever increasing. The skeleton household was of cause one for upholding tradition and that tradition was to usually invite friends to enjoy the festival before sleepovers. He would defiantly have to text an invite to Undyne! She had been so busy he was sure she would welcome a break. 

A clunk outside indicated the morning post. 

The weekly newspaper, as usual, contained very few pages. Stories and headlines included An interview with the Queen, a group of kids who were responsible for making echo flowers shout profanities at passers-by for several weeks, a theft from a store in New Home who sold a variety of magical gems, something controversial Mettaton had done this week, the Spiders of Hotlands had been accused of spying on members of the Royal Guard and ‘Tales from the Wag-tail’- More adventures of the Underground’s fluffy white dog. 

Advertisements littered the pages, Papyrus paid little attention to much of it as he flicked to the double page spread of puzzles. His favourite type of crossword was in this issue and a large word search in which you had to find the word ‘seminar’ fifteen times. 

This would undoubtably be a fun issue! The skeleton loved puzzles and had an incredible ability to solve them, by his own standards, anyway. He enjoyed making puzzles just as much, it was a great shame he was ordered to remove the human hunting traps from the forest. It was an element of his Sentry job he sorely missed. 

As he thought, the skeleton looked up from his paper. His eye caught the newly added mind map which now littered the wall. His eyes widened. He looked back down at the puzzles, then back up at the wall. An epiphany came to him- how had he not thought of this before? 

No wonder it had been a whole week since Ms Truffles death with no real clues or developments- he wasn’t using enough traps! 

Surely, he would catch the killer in no time if he lured them out with the right puzzles! 

Papyrus pulled on his boots and grabbed his notebook. There were things he needed to investigate and plans he needed to make. 

A loud bump and louder swear came muffled from behind his brother’s door. Excellent, that meant he was awake! Papyrus made his way out. 

He skipped down towards the forest briefly stopping by the Bunny’s bakery and leaving with a brown bag of sugary sticks. Ms Truffle’s daughter gave him a wave as they passed. A few days previous the skeleton had gathered up her mother’s dust in the intricately designed glass jar the Queen had provided Flowey’s dust in and returned them to her next of kin. The mousy monster had been moved to tears by the gesture and thanked him profusely. 

At the first sentry post, he found Dogaressa playing a game of snap with Lesser Dog, who appeared to be losing thanks to his poor reaction time.   
“Hello, friends!” He greeted cheerfully, pulling open the brown paper bag and handing them both sugar sticks.

Dogaressa offered him a fist bump in return, which Papyrus greatly accepted, as if it was the coolest thing ever. “Aww thanks! Sup, Bones?”   
“Well as you know, I was at Grillby’s last night, where I interrogated some very interesting monsters.” He said.

Dogaressa folded her arms, “I remember. Not sure why you ‘interrogated’ us dogs, especially the question about our favourite musical.” 

“Everything has a purpose, my dear Dogi.” Papyrus said. “Many people seemed to think that no one in Snowdin would be capable of such a crime. Others seemed to think it had something to do with the monsters of the forest. They have some interesting theories about what lurks down there. One lizard fellow said something about a dragon, a human, and a ghostly black creature, even.” 

Lesser Dog tilted his head in confusion, his pointed ears flopping around his head. 

“Well, them forest dwellers stay well clear of the town. Only seen um’ further in there.” She pointed down the winding pathway which led deeper into the trees. “Thankfully they stay away mostly, nasty things they are.” The dog shook her head. She giggled “You gonna go down there and ask them?”

Papyrus grinned, “Why yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking. If we confirm or deny that they were involved then we can sort all of this out much quicker.” He said with conviction. “I was going to ask if you would like to come with me?”

Dogaressa flinched back. “Y-you know I was joking. Right? And, urr, no thanks, I prefer to live my life without that much excitement.” She sounded slightly worried.

“Pfft, there is nothing to worry about, they are never as savage as you think. Some of them know me quite well. I’ve only been attacked a few times.” He waved it off like it was no big deal. “Come on, Ressa, it’ll look great on the report to the Captain if I mention your bravery. Just think what a great story it will be later, beats repeating the same old ones, right?” He said with another winning grin. 

The Dog’s magic curled in a contained discomfort before she sighed. “Fine, sure, whatever. Long as we’re back before my shift ends later.” 

“Oh I’m sure that wont be an issue, they don’t appreciate long visits.” He began to walk down the forest path. “Excellent, shall we go? You too Lesser.” Papyrus called cheerfully. 

Lesser Dog whimpered and stayed put even after Dogaressa grudgingly followed the Sentries leader. 

Papyrus shook the paper bag of treats. Lesser Dog yipped excitedly and followed them, chasing the snacks.   
The tall pines greeted them in large towering clusters. No snow fell today, leaving only a small scattering of cloud, perfect for a stroll through the forest. 

After a twenty-minute walk down the path towards the Ruins, they followed the Skeleton as he turned off the path down a steep embankment. The scent of the large evergreens filled their senses and frozen rocky earth crunched below their feet. Birds whistled in the trees and flitted by. The woods otherwise calm and lifeless. 

“So, I had an idea, quite a good one if I say so myself.” Papyrus started. “What if I were to set up a trap to catch the baddy, like what we used to use for humans?”

He had expected the dogs to launch into ideas or clever tips, well, maybe not Lesser. However, much to his disappointment, Dogaressa did not either. She frowned in thought and made contemplative hums but throughout came up with not a single idea. 

The skeleton sighed, “I mean, something to stun them is a good start.” He prompted, hopefully.

“Well I’ve heard killers sometimes go back to the scene of the crime. Not sure whether that’s a myth or not.” Dogaressa shrugged. 

“Ooh, yes, I have also heard that on the many crime dramas I have been digesting. I must say I’m becoming quite the connoisseur of them.” He replied. 

Lesser Dog barked. Maybe he also enjoyed gruesome television. 

“I mean… Just throw a bear trap inside the house or somethin’.” She said uncaringly, clearly not as interested in the subject as the skeleton was. Regardless, Papyrus took her idea to heart.

They continued at a quick pace for a solid half hour. Papyrus knew every inch of these woods and knew nearly every species who lurked in the dark. The cavern walls loomed in the distance and the odd bits of luminous moss which stuck to them lit up the cracks and cervices. The area was getting darker the further they walked, the red of Papyrus’s uniform the brightest thing in the forest. 

“Hold up.” Dogaressa called. She stopped and fed a straw into a small juice carton. 

They stood around, not really saying much. Lesser Dog panted quietly as he waited for his friends. Papyrus shuffled his feet, making lines in the snow. The quiet of the forest settled around them, it made the group’s silence feel rather uncomfortable. The skeleton chose the first conversation topic to jump to mind.   
“Did you know my brother is sleeping with Grillby?” He asked quizzically. 

In shock, the dog dropped her axe, it fell onto her foot. Either from the shock of the question or the weight of her weapon she spat out a mouthful of juice and began choking. 

Papyrus patted her on the back until she was done coughing. “Oops, watch yourself there.” He said.

“What?!” She wheezed. “Sans? And Grillby?! What?”

“I know right!” The skeleton gestured in exaggeration. 

Dogaressa managed to get more of a hold of herself. “Grillby, maybe, I can imagine that in some reality. But Sans? No offence here, Paps, but how is Sans dating?” She snorted in disbelief.

He nodded excitedly, “My thought exactly. I always assumed Grillby was a little more… sophisticated.” 

Lesser Dog yipped in reply. He recognised the names of his friends but likely had no concept of what was being spoken about. 

“Yeah, as far as I know, Grillby hasn’t dated in years. Figured he wasn’t the type to really connect with people on a level other than the occasional few words and kicking us out when we get to drunk.” She finished her drink and tossed the carton to Lesser, who picked at it with interest. 

They began to follow Papyrus again who led them deeper into the trees. “Yes. I always thought he had the personality of, well, cardboard. Not sure why my brother likes him so much.” He spoke with a sour tone. “I didn’t think Sans was interested in _anything_ anymore, let alone _anyone._ ”

The armoured dog laughed and bumped him with her elbow. “Ya’ better start sharpening your game, Bones, if Sans of all people is on the dating scene!” 

“Yes, I must.” He agreed quickly. “My brother has a literal trash tornado in his room- which he sometimes does not leave for days at a time. If he can find love then so can I!” He said with determination. 

“Ayy, that’s the spirit.” She called. 

They continued down another slowly sloping hill. It was considerably darker now and the trees were placed more scarcely. Unable to get sufficient light, many remained small or dead looking. 

Lesser Dog looked on edge. The trio had kept up their speedy pace for around an hour now. 

“You actually know where we’re going, Bones?” The hooded dog asked in a quiet voice. 

“Of course!” Papyrus replied loudly. His voice reverberated amongst the trees. “I mean, of course. We’re going to visit some of my friends.” He continued much quieter. 

“Friends?” Dogaressa asked with clear uncertainty.

The skeleton glanced towards them over his shoulder. “Yes, we’re near their den. We should find someone to talk to there.” 

The dog blinked. “Their den?” 

“Not too far away now.” Papyrus said cheerfully. 

The two dogs exchanged very nervous glances. 

“Oh, I forgot to mention; If you spot any odd looking trees that kinda do this:” The tall monster got into a hunched position, folded his arms and pointed his fingers at the ground. “Please walk around them. They don’t like making friends.”

“Umm, ok.” She said awkwardly, giving a shifty glance around the area. 

They continued forwards. The gigantic cave wall loomed. The light from the capital’s fake sun did not reach this far. The birdsong had disappeared a while ago. Papyrus hummed to fill the silence. Occasionally the group flinched, sensing movement behind trees or catching odd smells on the wind. Finally, they entered a clearing and at the treeline, stood about thirty feet from the massive cave wall. Several small openings split down the rock at various heights, the largest sat at ground level. 

“Well,” Papyrus said as they stopped to take in the scene. “Shall we see if anyone is home?” He strode into the clearing, his company looking nervous and following reluctantly behind. 

Only a couple of paces in, a sudden movement made all three stop dead. A dark shape lumbered out from the treeline further along their left. It shuffled on four long spindly legs, had blotchy pale skin and matted hair which hung down over its head. Apart from how grotesquely stretched and malnurished it seemed to be, it looked incredibly human-like. It turned different ways, kicking up the snow as it snuffled and grunted. 

It saw them and stopped. Dogaressa gripped her axe in a firm hand. Lesser flattened his ears against his head and gave a muted whine.   
Papyrus was mildly concerned. First contact was always a tense time. He gave a little wave “Hello there.” It was still. It’s body moving with deep breaths. He tried again with another wave and a step closer. “H-hello friend, I was wondering -.” 

The thing reared back and shrieked, its head to the ceiling. The high-pitched cry reverberated around the cavern echoing back into the trees. Papyrus’s shoulders slumped, this was annoying. 

Thankfully the creature did not advance but held its ground. 

Movement from the largest craggy opening drew their eyes from it. Two monsters emerged. One small, only half of the skeleton’s height dark grey with white bone protruding down its joints. It looked like it could have been a skeleton monster if the dark grey around its body was not furred. It had a bony skull face, elongated and deer-like with small sprouting antlers. It wore a tatty striped sweater. 

The second creature stood in the opening of the cave, viewing the situation. They were nearly as tall as Papyrus covered in mossy foliage and burlap. A long hood, or was it some sort of hair, flapping delicately in the wind. It looked armless and Papyrus could imagine how it was adapted to camouflage and ambush in the forest. 

The crawling thing skittered back towards the newly appeared monsters. Where it continued to hiss and kick the snow. 

The sweater wearing monster sniffed the air and took a few more steps closer to the newcomers. “Oh. Its you.” It said bluntly in a raspy adolescent voice. 

Papyrus waved excitedly in greeting, “Witti! How lovely to see you. How have you been?” He asked.

Behind him, he heard Dogaressa mumble very quietly, “He knows it’s name. Of course, he knows it’s _freakin’ name._ ” 

“Who are they?” The skull faced ‘Witti’ asked nodding it’s head towards the group.

“Ah, these are my fellow Snowdin Sentries. They are my friends, they keep people in the town safe.” The skeleton explained slowly. “This is Lesser Dog and Dogaressa.” 

The four-legged thing grunted and more furiously jittered around the clearing. Steam escaping from below its hair in the cold. 

Witti balled their fists and stopped walking. At the closer distance he could see how oddly stretched and shabby the striped shirt was. Probably stolen or taken from the remains of a Snowdin kid who wondered too far into the forest and got picked off by these predators. “You said you would always come alone.” The young monster snarled. 

A cough sounded behind the small monster who glanced behind at the seemingly hooded thing which still stood glued to the cave wall. Witti lashed a long bony tail in agitation but seemed to calm. Papyrus hadn’t known a good situation defusing answer so he was relieved when they moved on. “Why are you here?” 

Papyrus tried a few more tentative steps forwards; well aware he was leaving his companions at the treeline. “Well, I was wondering if you could help me. There has been a disturbance in the town, a terrible thing- someone has been killed, blown up in fact. And-.” He was interrupted.

“And you wanna know if it was us?” Witti’s yellow eyes flashed with in annoyance. Another cough and the skull monster stilled again. The thing against the cave wall stood patiently. 

Papyrus reached back for his notebook and began jotting. “I-I guess so, or anyone you know around here?” 

“And why should I?” Snapped the young monster quickly. 

Pulling the brown bag out of his pocket, Papyrus knelt down to the snow and held out a sugar stick. “You can share these, if you like?” Witti looked tempted but stayed put. Seeing the hesitation, the skeleton took a bite from the stick and held out a second for the other half skeleton creature. This time the skull faced teen took the treat carefully from the stranger’s hand. There were long seconds of silence as both shared the bag of baked goods. Papyrus handed over the bag, “You can finish these, if you like.” Witti flopped onto the snow and happily accepted the bag. 

The patient monster who stood on the side-lines hummed in approval. 

A snuffling and warm breath on his shoulder made Papyrus jump as he turned his head to see the skinny shambling mess of a monster looming beside him. It smelt of rotting flesh and it’s hair was matted with what looked like dried blood. 

“Ay.” The half skeleton called to it and threw one of the treats into the snow, a few meters away. The horrid creature bound after it throwing its face into the snow. As it reared up it revealed an unnatural lopsided face, it’s mouth diagonal and eyes mismatched. The image resembled a tall human cooked and deformed by radiation. Like whoever created it slapped it together carelessly at the last minute. 

It raked the ground with raw fleshy fingers and spat out snow as it attempted to eat the snack, hissing and spluttering. The thing was totally naked and Papyrus wondered if it was freezing cold, its flesh damaged and frostbitten in places. Scrawny, with it’s heaving ribcage protruding under it’s skin. Papyrus wondered if it could feel at all. 

“We call him Crawler. He can’t speak but he does listen, specially to the grown-ups.” Witti said, probably feeling the skeleton’s discomfort and interest regarding the strange monster. The teen was nonchalant, he must be used to this bizarre behaviour. 

“He seems… nice.” The skeleton replied with a nervous smile. 

They continued sitting for around five minutes. A faint breeze flittered through the trees and down the rocky cave wall. The Skeleton’s scarf rippled in the wind’s rhythm. 

Witti was scraping the sugar from the bottom of the bag and licking it from their bony claws. “Do you know how Snowdrake and Icecap are?” 

“I see them sometimes in town or on the forest path, they seem ok.” Replied Papyrus, surprised this monster knew the kids from Snowdin. 

Witti looked downcast, “They used to hang out with me a lot. I did something that scared um’ really bad, I swear it was an accident. They don’t come here anymore. Guess they were just stupid Town Bastards like everyone from Snowdin… So, someone died in the town? Doesn’t that happen, like all the time, whats the point?” 

Papyrus was utterly relieved he had managed a small level of trust with this monster. “Well not that often and certainly not the way it happened. People are sad and maybe a bit scared.” 

“Well there ain’t no one round here I’ve heard of who can blow someone up. Forest dwellers don’t like the town, its too bright.” Witti explained.   
He had expected this. What this monster said matched his knowledge of the beings who lived here. Papyrus looked back at the Sentry Dogs who kept a close eye on the surroundings from the treeline. They looked rather bored now. Flipping through his notebook once more and finding his list of notes, he continued. “Some people mentioned some interesting things and I wanted to get your thoughts. Is that ok?” 

The half skeleton looked unsure. “Umm, ok. I guess. Depends.” 

Taking the answer as a yes, he went on. “I heard rumours of a snake monster who has a thing for attacking small monsters. It is known to sneak into buildings at night.” 

Witti tilted their head. “There are no snake monsters in the forest. Maybe there are some in the wet area.” They said, pointing in the direction of Waterfall. “And like I said, none of us go up to the town.” They finished bluntly. 

“What about the black figure with the cracked face?” Papyrus asked, not really sure how this phenomenon was relevant.

Frowning hard, Witti replied. “Yeah, I know that. I’ve seen um’, lemme tell ya, reeealy freaky! Well… I- I think I have, I don’t remember.” They said, suddenly confused, trailing off. The brown bag in Witti’s hand was suddenly screwed up and thrown to Crawler who again shrieked and chased after it. 

Papyrus marked the last question with a tick. When he opened his mouth to ask where this was possibly spotted, another voice rang across the clearing. He froze, as if suddenly turned to stone.

“ANSWER NO MORE FROM THIS CREATURE, CHILD!” A booming screech of a voice spilled from the tall cave entrance Witti and their friend emerged from. The teen bounced to their feet in less than a second and the others who stood watching from the side-lines gave a startled motion. 

Something was moving in the hooded shadows of the cave’s entrance. Something massive.

 

A/n: FIRSTLY, sorry this is here a few days late. Im a silly regular human person who should probably pay more attention to the days of the week. SECONDLY, Thanks again to my good friend Jack for proof reading this. THIRDLY, lets play 'name the Bloodborne monsters that inspired these random sidecharacters', its a trend which does continue through further chapters. Sorry not sorry.   
Thanks, Zazzy. :)


	8. Black magic

“ANSWER NO MORE FROM THIS CREATURE, CHILD!” A booming screech of a voice spilled from the tall cave entrance which Witti and their friend emerged from. The teen bounced to their feet in less than a second and the armless patient who stood watching from the side-lines gave a startled motion.

The skeleton’s magic retracted like elastic to his soul, he recognised this monster. 

Emerging from the entrance to the cave an enormous monster rose standing around four meters tall, five if including the massive set of antlers atop it’s head. Witti stepped back away from Papyrus who rose to his feet quickly. “Sorry, Dad.” Witti said quietly, looking off into the snow.

Lesser Dog whined in fear. Papyrus couldn’t help but agree. 

Witti’s dad walked on his knuckles, had a long sloping back and bent back legs, quite unlike it’s child. Again, unlike Witti, had only thick greyish black fur to protect from the cold, long enough to touch the snow and mostly hiding the monster’s unnatural exposed ribcage. The half exoskeleton was scuffed and greyed all over and it’s antlers were similarly damaged, with chunks missing altogether. His skull was the worst, Witti looked fairly intimidating with the rounded white bone of their face. It still carried a childlike quality to it. This massive adult monster’s skull was long, angular and jagged, in places cracked and smashed from fights. He was downright horrific. Unfortunately, Papyrus knew him by name.

“Papyrus.” It greeted.

“G-good day, Tyrin. Very sorry to disturb, I was just asking about-.” He was interrupted yet again.

Tyrin spoke with a worn but oddly smooth voice when he was not shouting. “You promise to give us respect and isolation, yet you bring armed trespassers?” He nodded to the dogs, in a tone of interest. 

“Ah, you misunderstand, Sir. These are my friends and rest assured we mean no harm to you.” As he said this, the skeleton mused to himself that they probably couldn’t do any harm to this monster even if they tried. “We are investigating a disturbance in Snowdin and-.”

“And you think it was caused by us?” He spoke in mock disbelief. “Nonsense. And yet to come here with sword and bow, ready to slay the vile beast. Well tell me, Guardsman, I don’t see you or your Sentries coming to our aid when we are in great distress.” His tone smooth and full of malice. 

Papyrus frowned slightly in dislike. “You may remember me saying before that you forest dwellers are more than entitled to help from the Sentries. I myself patrol the forest regularly for that purpose entirely.” When he was sure he would not be interrupted again he continued in a more forceful tone than he was used to taking. “Now if you grant me one more question, I will be on my way.” 

The massive monster considered this before giving a single nod. “As you wish.” 

Taking a quick glance down at his notes he sighed. There were still several questions he really wanted to ask, he would have to pick out the most important one. Papyrus cleared his throat “Do you know of any humans living within the forest?” 

There was a silence. 

“What?” Tyrin tilted his huge head. “A human, amongst us?” His teeth bared. With the top of the skull having long sharp teeth above a regular furred dog-like jaw, it gave the monster a look of having two mouths. “A HUMAN LIVING HERE?! HOW DARE YOU, HOW DARE YOU COME HERE!” 

Witti was backing off looking a combination of scared and offended. The one on the edge lingered, watching, though slightly on edge. 

Tyrin’s eyes bulged and his face snapped down towards Witti. “CHILD, SHOW THEM WHAT COMING TO OUR DEN MEANS!”

Witti looked uncertain but knew better than to back down. They tightly balled their fists and with a snarl, took several quick paces towards the skeleton. 

Papyrus, as per his training, took a quick count of his surroundings. He was totally out in the open surrounded by four possible attackers, Crawler seemed to sense where it’s next meal would be coming from and began to circle the scene in it’s long jittery movements. Papyrus doubted the dogs could run to him before he was cut off by the circling enemies. Still he kept his posture relaxed; or so he hoped. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.”

Hissing, with their eyes glowing yellow, the youngest in the fight shivered as they cast their magic. Instantly feeling a black presence encase his soul, cold enveloped Papyrus from top to toe. The feeing was peculiar. He turned on the spot to look at his friends, both dogs clenched their weapons ready to charge at a sign of attack but were equally reluctant to enter the clearing. 

Overcome by the strangest urge, he took a step towards the dogs, then another. The feeling was wavering, only just at the back of his mind. A hateful feeling towards the two, the desire to rip and tear into them with his bare fingers and teeth. Wait. That didn’t sound right. No, he was The Great Papyrus and he didn’t hate anyone, especially not his friends!

He stopped walking and pushing the disturbing thoughts from his mind, turned back to face the four would-be attackers. Instantly, the dark mist released his soul. 

The massive beast snarled at his child once more. Witti, shrunk away, clearly not having the desire to attack in the first place. Papyrus wanted to give the youngster a thumbs up, tell them he was proud they saw sense. 

He didn’t have time, everything seemed to happen at once. 

“Pathetic.” Tyrin’s massive skull head rolled back to face the Sentries. “Begone, Papyrus I’ve warned you before of what would happen if you or any other Town Bastards trespassed here!” His eyes shone a bright pale yellow, bent low and bristled, opening his mouth in a screeching howl.   
A gasp from behind him made Papyrus glance over at his friends just in time to see Lesser’s arms go slack as he dropped his weapons. Not a second later his eyes faded a pitch black and snarling, launched his head forwards. Dogaressa had no time to react before jaws latched onto her shoulder, immediately drawing blood. She yelped and attempted to shake her unlikely attacker off, with little success. 

Pattering footsteps neared him across the snow before- CRASH! 

A force threw Papyrus through the air and slamming onto the ground with enough force it seemed to knock the air out of him. Crawler was bounding over and pouncing. The skeleton rolled to the side, the skinny thing missed and landed with a face full of snow, which it growled at and shook as if it had landed it’s target. 

Grateful for the delay, the skeleton stumbled back onto his feet and pulled a row of bones from the ground as a temporary defensive wall between himself and Crawler. Said monster had hit him hard enough that Papyrus wondered whether he had broken rib or two. It surely felt that way, a painful tingling ran around his left ribs and most of his spine. 

Both dogs were still grappled, Dogaressa trying to pry Lesser’s jaws away without ripping her shoulder off in the process. 

Witti’s eyes flashed again, desperately trying to control a dark magic which still did not seem to want to come to their aid. Papyrus was able to brush off the cannibalistic urge even easier than previous. He needed to get to his friends but just as urgently needed to deal with the incoming threats. 

Crawler seemed to realise whatever it was chewing on was not a skeleton and darted back on the attack. Sidestepping in a dodge and reaching for his magic, three giant bones coalesced in the air and launched. His aggressor was again knocked into the snow. “Sorry!” Papyrus squeaked through clenched teeth.

Arm stretched in a grasping motion, Tyrin’s soul was turned blue and a quick tug sent the monstrous beast toppling to the ground, pinned. A guttural howl caught in his throat. The break of eye contact seemed to disable the magical hold on Lesser Dog who dropped his grapple with the other Sentry and looked around very confused. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Dogaressa give him a punch on the snout for good measure.

“Well, we must be off now, thank you kindly for your hospitality.” Papyrus said, barely dodging a sting of magical bullets from Witti, who was being pulled out of the fight by the cloaked creature who had stood on the side-lines. “Your help with my investigation is greatly appreciated, if you need me or remember anything else then please don’t hesitate to contact the Skeleton residence. I’ll leave my card!” Taking a hand-written paper containing his contact information from his pocket, Papyrus placed it gently in the snow. Just in time for Crawler to pounce again and fly over his head- lucky he had bent down! “Oh my! Farewell until next time, friends!” With a little wave, he turned and sprinted back to the dogs. 

Both seemed to pick up on the que to leave and bolted into the trees. Losing his magical hold, Tyrin rose, snarling and with a shuddering start, bolted after the group. Agility was clearly not it’s strong point, the incredible size and weight of the monster were a burden, despite this, it crossed the clearing with unrelenting speed.

The three sprinted further into the forest as the sound of thundering footfalls and snapping branches echoed behind them. A significant distance behind the dogs and still running as fast as he could, Papyrus felt like any second the monster’s jaws or clawed hand would catch him. He didn’t dare look back.

Dogaressa, though she held her limp arm, guided the pack as they ran. Instead of running continually straight, she veered to the sides to catch the denser bushed when they appeared. A thick cluster of trees had caught her eye and she dove for them. 

Only a second after Papyrus was through the tightly compacted bushes, there was a snap and a crunch. Tyrin had ran head first into the branches and gotten stuck. The trio slowed, panting. Smoothing a hand along his ribs, Papyrus tested for broken bones. They burnt under his touch, the collision with that strange monster had probably left a crack or two but for now he was content that none of him was hanging off. 

His own wellbeing was forgotten when a whine ahead of him caught his attention. “Ressa?” She swayed stumbled as she walked but pushed him away when the skeleton attempted to steady her. There was a lot of blood loss, the extent of the damage was yet to be seen under her cloak. 

They attempted to make a quick jog to the opposite of the trees when Lesser Dog turned to look back at their attacker. In a few shuddering steps he turned back to them with the same empty black eyes. 

“Shit!” Just moving in time, Dogaressa drew her axe. Lesser’s neck shot out and his fangs clamped on the handle of the weapon. 

Tyrin was still thrashing in the trees, he had gotten himself sufficiently tied up. Another large bone attack was summoned and thrown. It bounced off the skull plating of the monster’s face, ineffective. 

Papyrus turned his soul blue again, lifting the beast’s weight and slamming him headfirst into the sturdy pine trees. A stabbing pain tore his concentration from his magic. Apparently, finding that axe handles don’t bleed, Lesser had diverted his attack onto Papyrus and tore into his gloved wrist. Stifling a cry of pain, he tried to pry the foaming jaws from his arm. Black eyed, ears back and growling, Lesser Dog looked rabid and totally hellbent on taking down his friends. 

A rustle in the bushes to their left and the shambling mess that was Crawler pelted into the trees knocking Dogaressa to the ground with another audible slam. She recovered from the hit much better than Papyrus had done, returning the momentum with a downward swing of her axe. The hit connected and a large chunk was cleaved out of the monster’s leg. 

The white dog was pulling back with Papyrus in tow. The dog stumbled on the thick network or roots below them and tumbled. Seeing an opportunity to get leverage, the skeleton followed and pinned him. Lesser snarled in anger, thrashing. Papyrus attempted to find the words to beg him to calm down, yet he could not form them into speech. 

Crawler lashed with its frostbitten fingers and received a firm kick to the face. Stunned, it did not have time to see the blunt side of the axe slam into the back of it’s head, knocking it unconscious. 

Some more pressure against Lesser Dog’s jaw and Papyrus pulled his hand from the dog’s hold. In one swift and practiced movement the skeleton changed their positions once more so that his legs and good arm pinned the dog’s neck and both of his arms, leaving him unable to attack again. He felt like he could breath again now his hand was no longer being crushed. Lesser nearly screamed in protest as he tried to wriggle free, his black eyes wide.

Papyrus turned Tyrin’s soul blue yet again and he immediately stopped his thrashing. 

“Hold him there, Paps!” Called Dogaressa from somewhere behind him. 

The air warped behind him as she released her axe in a hefty throw. It shone with her magic as it flew through a gap in the trees. Maintaining a grip with his injured hand, Papyrus saw the monster’s yellow eyes flash in alarm a second before the axe collided with his face. 

It jammed into the bone of his nostril leaving a webbing crack. Tyrin shrieked but remained unable to move. Using her magic, the Dogi pulled the weapon from where it lay with a sickening noise and swung it again in close proximity, hitting under the eye. A portion of the skull crumbled, blood pouring into the snow. The attack possibly blinding the monster.

Bone attacks slammed into Tyrin’s front, snapping tree branches as they hit with full force. Dogaressa pulled her magic, the axe hovering, ready to strike again.

“MERCY!” Cried the huge monster, shuffling on ground in an attempt to back up. 

Neither released their hold but did not attack, the threat was enough. 

“Please, mercy!” It yelped with less gusto this time. 

The two Sentries exchanged looks waited and waited a few long seconds, to be sure this monster was truly backing down. Afterall, they were not currently engaged in proper combat, no one could see the other’s soul to be clear on their intention. 

Doagressa withdrew her blade back to her side and with his blue magic, Papyrus twisted and pushed Tyrin out of the trees with a few snapping branches and snapping antlers. Released from his constraints, the monster huffed and fled the battle without another word. 

A soft snuffling below him stirred the skeleton, he suddenly realised Lesser had stopped thrashing when the first axe made contact. The dog sat up as Papyrus rolled off him, apologising profusely for the rudeness. The dog did not seem to care, instead sniffing at the skeleton’s mangled hand. 

A few nudges to the monster at their feet confirmed that Crawler was not getting back up any time soon. With how much the thing looked like a corpse, lying in the snow bleeding made it look like it was in it’s natural habitat. Papyrus considered healing though he decided the thing wasn’t seriously injured, it would wake up and lumber home later.

For now, it seemed they were safe.

“I swear, Lesser, I better still have an arm after this.” Dogaressa grumbled and she found a seat on some damp tree roots. Papyrus moved in to help get a better look at the injury while Lesser yipped guiltily, staying out of the way. 

“Stop squirming now. LOOK! It’s not that bad, he hardly went into your shoulder, it just bled a lot.” The skeleton concluded as they removed the fabric from the injury. Dogaressa kept surprisingly quiet and averted her gaze onto the frosty floor as Papyrus summoned his magic, in a healing green blue glow. 

Papyrus hummed to himself, quite content now that the fight had ended though also to take his mind off the burning pain and the blood seeping through the bite holes in his glove. After several minuets the wound had almost entirely closed and the bleeding ceased.

She huffed a thanks and hooked her axe back onto her belt. 

“Is that better? You aren’t hurt anywhere else, are you?” He asked cheerily. 

The dog snapped her head back towards him with an expression of utter confusion. She seemed to wait for him to catch up but Papyrus remained unsure of the reason for the scrutiny- his healing had been a little slow but it worked, right? 

With a look of incredulity she shook her head. “You are mad.” She breathed. “Absolutely-.” She seemed to be at a total loss for words and after a few more attempts of forming sentences, settled on “Mad, totally mad.”

Papyrus was unsure how to reply. He glanced about, feeling rather uncomfortable. “Well, I mean, one can say…”

“A Wendigo Den. You took us to _a Wendigo Den._ ” She emphasised, speaking slowly. “And you knew them- who- WHO is on first name basis with a Wendigo?” She mused quietly in almost awe. “I should be mad, I should be really, really angry.” This seemed to be said more to herself. It was true, she didn’t seem angry, just bewildered. 

Taking as much of a compliment from it as he could, Papyrus puffed his chest out proudly, “Well, I am quite good friends with many of the inhabitants of this forest.” 

She reached out and took his good hand in her own, patting the top of it. “No. No, honey, there was nothing friendly about that. They tried to make us eat each other. We, realistically, should have died.” Dogaressa spoke slowly, as if communicating with a very young child who had no concept of their actions. 

Papyrus looked down at her taking in her words before a wide smile spread across his face. “But we didn’t.” 

At that she burst into a sudden fit of laughter which was echoed by Papyrus. He wasn’t sure what was so funny but it was nice seeing her laugh after such a tense situation. Neither really noticed Lesser Dog vomiting off at the other side of the trees. 

They began making their way back to Snowdin with Papyrus of cause, leading the way. Along the way there sounded a few snapping branches around them. Shapes danced in the dark, possibly attracted by the smell of blood. Thankfully nothing approached and the journey was mostly uneventful. 

Papyrus peeled off his glove, it was sticky with a thin layer of blood and smelled vile. The dog’s fangs had pierced the bones of his wrist and the back of his hand. His self healing had always been fairly inefficient, despite having no problem healing others. His magic was oddly selective in that way. He would need a bandage to sort this. 

The trio looked far worse for wear than they were, with no serious damage done to make their HP drop significantly, they sustained only surface injuries. All three were smeared in gore which was likely to have mostly belonged to Dogaressa. The blood slowly cooling and turning to dust where it set.

They had found the trail of their original footprints, leading down to the forest dweller’s den. It was easier to follow the footprints than focus on directions. An odd shape caught his attention, Papyrus stopped and pointed it out to the group. “Ah, see that odd tree? That is what I said to look out for earlier.” 

There was indeed an odd tree, but that was really, all it looked like. Some of its bark carried an orange colour and some branches appeared hunched. The dogs studied it from a distance, oblivious to what it could be aside from just an ‘odd tree’. 

“These only live in this area of the forest. Occasionally, I do see them quite close to the town. I call them Sap-Snappers, I’m not sure whether they have a proper name.” Papyrus motioned to the surrounding woodland, which it did blend into very well. 

He pulled his mangled glove from his pocket. It had unfortunately been torn to bits. Scrunching it up in his hand, pulling back and tossing it, it flew until it brushed the lower hanging branches. In a whipping movement faster than any of the onlookers could catch with their eye, it was speared by the branches and held firm. 

Lesser Dog whimpered as a higher part of the trunk detached and twisted into an insect-like head which lowered to the caught item. Mandibles extended from a sort of jaw and began to chew, quickly ripping bits from the material. 

The Dogs faces showed disgust. Papyrus thought they were quite wonderful, clever creatures, lazy but clever- a bit like Sans. The skeleton pointed to where their previous set of footprints had squashed the snow, they fell only a few feet from the Sap-Snapper. “Wowie! Look how close we walked on the way here, I’m surprised it didn’t grab one of us!” He said cheerfully. He began to walk again, the dogs trailing behind. “I wouldn’t recommend trying to make friends with them either, they prefer to eat their catch slowly, while its alive.” 

He hummed and bounced away along the trail, waving goodbye to the strange towering monster as it finished eating his glove. The skeleton did not see the disturbed look passed between his friends as they hurried away from the tangled insectoid creature. 

It had been a lovely day for a walk in the woods, the fake sun shone bright through the wispy clouds and no snowfall was foreseen in the late afternoon. Papyrus could not move with his usual skipping steps, by now he was fairly certain that monster’s slamming attack had cracked a few ribs, his left side and spine were still very painful. It wasn’t a cause for attention so he refused to let it show. 

The walk back felt quicker than the journey down into the depths and they arrived back on the main path into Snowdin in what felt like no time. Standing beside the large ‘Welcome to Snowdin’ sign was Doggo and a large brown bear monster they all knew to be the town’s mayor. The duo were hanging colourful banners and lights in preparation for the Gyftmas celebration. They waved to say their hellos but stumbled in shock at the sight of the three Sentries. The Mayor nearly toppled off the crate he was stood atop of. 

Dogaressa could only laugh. 

“What the hell happened to you?!” Doggo yapped.

She shrugged, “Oh, Bones here gave us a lovely tour of the forest. We even met some of his friends.” She giggled, “I’ll tell you all about it later.” 

Doggo narrowed his eyes at them. They did look rough, Lesser’s white fur and armour was stained red around his face and chest; flecks of dust falling away into the snow. He had also dropped his sword and shield during his first attack on Dogaressa. She also did not look wonderful. The shoulder of her cloak was torn open as well as the thicker fabric armour below it, the blood which had dried into the fabric slowly turned to dust.

Papyrus pointed down at the dark red which sat ugly on white of his costume. “I think this is mostly Ressa’s” Then held up his mangled hand, “This is mine though.”

With parting words, and a big thanks for their help from Papyrus, the group broke up and left their separate ways, all heading home for a bath and fresh change of clothes. 

It was on the way passed Grillby’s that Papyrus suddenly considered the prospect of telling Sans what had happened. His brother had always had a habit overreacting to every minor incident when it came to Papyrus’s wellbeing. He remembered once when he was quite young, when an accident had resulted in a broken arm. While Papyrus had, even at a young age, downplayed it, his older brother practically had a heart attack and had needed to sit down for a moment. 

While this was nowhere as bad as a broken arm, it certainly looked much more gruesome. As he slowly pushed open the front door, he desperately hoped Sans was not around. 

Papyrus peered around the door. No one. He softly tiptoed in. Lights off, no sign of anyone. Excellent. 

Without hesitating, he pulled off his scarf and shirt. His ribs were not happy with the movement and he tried his best to ease the material passed them without causing too much discomfort. Examining the offending bones, they were thankfully not cracked, from what he could see. Greyish blue bruises were starting to form instead. Wonderful, a nice rest would cure that as long as he went easy on his training for a few days. 

Sorting the stain remover, Papyrus laid his shirt on the floor. Where had this extra red come from? Oh, his hand was still bleeding. In his rush to destroy any evidence he had forgotten to clean the wound on his hand, his fingertips (which he was having great difficulty moving) were still dripping here and there, in fact he had got blood over the carpet! 

The door opened. 

Papyrus froze.

“Oh, hey bro. Is it laundry day? I’m on a roll so I might even empty my room of all the-.” His eyes fell on Papyrus hunched over his dust and gore stained shirt. “-socks.” 

Papyrus cringed. ‘Oh, please don’t freak out!’ He wished. 

Sans stilled as his eyes moved from the shirt to the bruises to the blood spots on the plastic flooring. Papyrus slowly shifted his arm to not be seen.  
He blurted out, “Eh, I swear it’s not what it looks like!”

“O-oh my God, Papyrus!” Not bothering to remove his wet shoes, Sans leapt to his side. His eye lights had shrunk to pinpricks and he seemed to be unsure whether touching his brother was a good idea, as if Papyrus might turn to dust under his fingers. He was mumbling hurriedly under his breath unsteadily. 

“I’m fine, I haven’t even lost all that much HP.” Papyrus reassured him.

Sans nodded, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah I know.” He said, as if he could somehow tell. 

Papyrus held still as his brother inspected the bruised ribs, looking for any more serious damage. From Sans’ muttering he gathered that his spine had taken some damage too, which made sense. Sans reached around and pulled the bloodied and dusty shirt towards him, half covered in cleaning materials; the acidic floral smell dominated the air. 

“Don’t worry, hardly any of that is mine. It is Dogaressa’s mostly… Oh don’t worry she only has scratches now, I healed her with my magic.” Papyrus said in his usual carefree tone. 

Sans was beginning to calm when the scarf working to hide the bloodied limb was pulled off. “Oh my God, your arm!” The skeleton gasped, pulling the limb towards him. 

Now that Papyrus saw it from another’s perspective, his arm looked pretty vile. Dry blood ran down the bones of his forearm and pooled at his elbow joint where it began to turn to dust. Roughly eight puncture wounds ran around both sides of the limb, most of which were still freely bleeding and had soaked his hand and dripped from his fingers. 

“I tried to heal it on the way back, but… well.” He shrugged, it was no big deal. 

Sans was mumbling again, his hands shaking. Papyrus waited for him to act but it he seemed to be lost in the situation and just stared. “not again…not again… no, no, no, no…” He repeated, Sans said the strangest things sometimes. Papyrus placed his hand no his brother’s shoulder who immediately jolted from his trance. 

“Really, Sans, I’m fine.” He reassured in his most confident voice. 

“Who did this?” Sans asked breathlessly.

A big fake smile crept sheepishly onto Papyrus’s face, “Well, Lesser Dog bit me…” Sans’s head snapped up to meet his eyes. “Oh, don’t worry, he took a chunk out of Ressa, too!” 

The look on Sans’ face told him he hadn’t made anything better. _“What?!”_

“Well, technically it was another monster trapping his soul…”

“W-what monster?” Sans looked like he might be sick, if he could. 

Papyrus hesitated. “…A Wendigo, we went to speak with some friends.” 

Lost for words, Sans just looked between his brother’s face and arm and occasionally his bruised ribs and spine. 

Sans seemed to jump into action, “Uh, go and sit on the sofa, I’ll uh, help.” A flurry of activity saw Sans wrapping the hand in a towel, throwing a shirt down from the landing for Papyrus to wear, grabbing a bowl of water and more towels and spilling the contents of the first aid box all over the carpet. 

They wiped the gore from Papyrus’s arm, Sans having to give up when his hands shook too much; he was taking far too long trying to be delicate anyway. The first aid box contained mostly small flowery pink plasters but one bandage was found and tied securely. A few of the smaller bones around his wrist and hand had been cracked or knocked askew from the force of the dog’s bite. A bit of DIY fixing and they looked slightly better though the breaks would require some time to heal. 

The rest of the evening was spent on the sofa, Sans constantly rechecking the bandages and attempting to use healing magic- a skill both of them knew he was incredibly bad at. Papyrus observed his brother, the way he would nervously knead the fabric of his sleeves, how his breathing would quicken into gasps for a minute or so. It was not the first time he had seen his brother in this state, he had been having these off moments for years now. Always thinking it would be rude to demand a reason for these attacks, the tall skeleton had always refrained from asking. Sometimes there was a notable reason for them, others, no reason Papyrus could see.   
When they happened, Papyrus would simply loop an arm around the other skeleton’s shoulders and keep an eye on him until the panic passed. 

“So, why did you guys need to go into the forest.” Sans asked at some point during the fourth episode of tonight’s television, currently season 35 of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Papyrus sighed, “There are a lot of people blaming the forest dwellers for the ‘incident’. I thought I would clear up that suspicion before we move forward.” He said in a straightforward tone. 

Sans nodded in understanding, if not slightly reluctantly. “So, you just went ahead and asked?”

“The Wendigo are knowledgeable friends. Rather thick skulled but most the informed when it comes to the goings on in the forest.” He replied, hoping Sans wouldn’t treat him like a child over this. 

“And what knowledgeable things did they say?” 

Shrugging, he replied, “Exactly as I expected- there are no monsters living in the forest who possess the kind of magic to kill Ms Truffle. They also _greatly_ reassured me nobody has entered Snowdin.” 

Despite his seemly calm outward display, Sans’ magic bubbled with an aggression that didn’t suit him. Reluctantly, Papyrus had to consider if that anger was directed at him or his attackers. 

Sans said nothing for nearly a minute, “Look, you know how I feel about you befriending the things in there. Nothing good ever came from those monsters. I’ve said it all before, so I won’t push it.” 

“What about the Gyftrot?” Papyrus interjected.

His brother waved it off, “The Gyftrot is an exception.” He said in a dry tone.

“And what about Jerry?” 

“Ok, fine, Jerry too.”

“And what about Witti?” Papyrus asked, keeping his cool.

Sans thought for a moment. “Who is Witti?” 

“Exactly. Witti is one of the youngest living in the den. We shared snacks and talked about the case. They are a nice monster and a good friend.”

“…And did Witti try to kill you?” He asked in the same dry tone. Papyrus tried to hide from the truth behind the accusation though when Sans glanced up at him, he knew he had hidden nothing. “While I won’t knock your ability to make friends, bro, I’d advise you, as I have done before, to maybe choose them better.” There was finality to this. 

Papyrus nodded. Though conversations like this were few and far between in the Skeleton household, they made Papyrus wonder whether Sans still considered him as a child- which he was most certainly not! After all, Sans wasn’t _that_ much older. 

The smile crept back to his brother’s face. “Least it wasn’t as bad as that last time, when you nearly got your leg ripped off. How long was it until you were back on your feet?” 

“Uh, Sans, what are you talking about? Not sure who you are referring too but it cannot be me.” He replied, slightly confused. 

“Oh right. Wrong timeline. My mistake.” He mumbled, looking confused but ultimately not seeming to care much.

Papyrus rolled his eyes at the strangeness. Sans said the oddest things sometimes. 

“So, where do the Wendigo live? I’ve never seen um’ before, just heard stories.” Sans tried to ask casually. 

Papyrus scrutinised him. With Sans’ magic field jumping all over he had to wonder about the motivation behind the question. “They live about an hour walk away, in the cavern wall.”

“Where about in the forest?” He inquired slowly. 

“Why Sans? You want to go there and avenge the ten HP I lost?” He replied with scepticism. 

He followed Sans’ eyes as they traced the length of Papyrus’s injured arm which sat tightly bandaged resting on a pillow (another addition he had thought unnecessary that Sans had insisted on).

“I’d like to talk to them.” He said with some truth, though Papyrus could tell this was not the extent of his brother’s intention. 

“I wouldn’t advise it. If you are that desperate to talk to them, maybe we could go together some time. They need their space, I won’t be going there for a while.” He said as a compromise, hoping he was tactful enough. He could understand that such strong emotion could lead someone to act in a way that might make the situation worse. He would lead Sans from that route as best he could. 

The decision seemed to work, Sans just nodded and turned back to the television.

The silence between them was uncomfortable and Papyrus didn’t know what to say to make it bearable. He wanted to keep an eye on his brother as much as his brother wanted to for him, so escaping to his room was probably out of the question.

“You sure you’re ok, bro?” Sans asked, probably sensing his discomfort. 

“Are you angry at me?” 

Sans chuckled, “Naw, course not.” He said with a warm smile. “I wish I could be sometimes, with the crazy stuff you like to pull. But I’ve never been mad at you.” It was said with such strong sentimentality that Papyrus could do nothing but believe him. 

The mood seemed to lighten considerably after that, as the dim evening light swam through the windows and painted the walls a relaxing orange. 

Some time later, during the credit roll of the TV show, Sans spoke again in a tired drawl. “At least you took the dogs with you. I know you aren’t too badly hurt, I just worry. Sorry I get upset sometimes.” 

Papyrus laughed and playfully tugged the smaller skeleton’s hood down over his eyes. “I know, lazy bones. I know.”


	9. Gyftmas time, mistletoe and crime

The week passed quickly and Snowdin was now completely decked out in coloured lights and decorations. Sans was awoken half an hour before his alarm (far, far too early) by an excitable Papyrus who was rushing around and happily jabbering on about the day’s activities. 

As he walked downstairs, Sans thought he must be dreaming. There were mountains of spaghetti piled high on every surface. Noodles were boxed in every space of the kitchen, spilling out to the coffee table. Some with what looked like tomato sauce sat on the sofa. Sauce dribbled onto the pillows in a few places, which Sans neglected to tell his brother about, or clean himself. Papyrus hummed as he attempted to multitask around the hundreds of plastic tubs. 

“Ah, there you are, brother. Help me stir this while I cut the veg.” 

Sans kicked a stool in front of the oven, so he could reach the stove and began stirring the odd meat substitute. It smelled rather like sawdust and medicine. He turned to see Papyrus struggling to hold a knife in his bandaged hand. It was healing well, though Sans still insisted on checking it daily, much to the other’s annoyance. He was preparing mushrooms, several carrots and fruit, all chopped into chunks. 

“This all breakfast spaghetti? Cuz I regretti to inform you I couldn’t eat all this.”

“I know how much you enjoy my cooking so I regret to inform you that it is not all for us. Me and Undyne are running a food stall for the festival today. I’m making my signature dish and she’s making… whatever she’s making.” He answered, cutting the carrots into long sticks and throwing them into a plastic box, not bothering to cook them. 

“Hey that’s a cool idea. If I see any potential pasta lovers, I’ll send them your way.” Sans said. 

Sometime later, on the way out the door, Sans walked straight into something solid. He turned to find his brother’s sentry post pulled outside the door. It wore a colourful hand drawn sigh reading ‘Pick ‘n’ mix pasta- Best Spaghetti in the Underground as made by The Great Papyrus. Also featuring whatever my good friend Undyne brings, ensure it will be super yummy!’ All crammed onto one sheet. How sweet. 

The main street of town was mostly taken up by businesses preparing for the most customers they would likely see all year. Gyftmas was the one holiday Snowdin was known for. In fact, it was probably the only thing Snowdin was known for. 

Sans walked the length of the street, admiring the activity and preparation. The library had set up extra tables outside and was unloading boxes of different papers. They were holding a puzzle competition. There seemed to be an argument going on in the bakery in regards to which goods would be the most popular. Outside the inn, a ‘limited rooms available’ sign was being hammered into the snow. 

Stalls were being wheeled in between shops, directed by the Mayor and the dog couple. Shrubberthree gave Sans a wave from where they sat with Woshua. Their stall promoting community projects within Waterfall, already set up ready to go. They sold little bags of ‘herbal remedies’ for decreasing stress and entering a zen headspace. 

The bug couple had dragged a table onto the street corner and were throwing a pink dotty table cloth over for decoration. They almost moved in sync, blissfully unpacking their knitted creations. 

The spider bake sale was being watched over by Muffet herself who stood shivering in a furry cranberry red coat. The look reminded Sans of the leader to some sort of drug ring. Which knowing the spiders, was not too farfetched. Especially if the level of violence her soul carried was any indicator. 

“You need a scarf?” The skeleton called across to her.

She looked up, regarding him silently for slightly longer than would normally be considered polite. “No thank you, dearie. I’ll adjust in a short while.” She said in an airy voice. 

After all the rumours about the spiders he’d heard over the years, Sans always tried to keep within their good graces. “Hey I heard about the spiders being rescued from the Ruins, that’s pretty webtastic.” The sign by the bake sale read ‘Fundraising for Spiders in Need’. Sans was unsure of any other spiders who needed ‘saving’.

She giggled, “There is always work to be done if we hope to reunite the spider clans. I’m aiming for the ones on the surface next.” 

“You’ve started a fundraising project to get to you to the surface?” He asked, hoping the craziness of this did not show in his voice. It wasn’t until now he noticed Muffet’s pet spider… thing. It clung to one of the eight table legs and wore a specially made coat which matched its owner’s.

A knowing smile crawled up her face. “Well how else will we unite all the spiders?” Then, changing the subject, “I recently heard there has been a rather nasty murder, now on your hands to solve.” She nodded in the direction of the blown-up house, a tiny wooden fence now set up around it.   
He glanced the same way, “Yeah, I guess you could say we’ve had a killer problem on our hands.”

Another giggle, she seemed to have liked that one. “Well if you ever need a spider’s eyes on anyone, you know you can roll a gold or two our way.” A few spiders skittered around the neckline of her thick coat. “Fancy a donut, hundred gold each?”

“I’ll bear that in mind and not before breakfast for me, thanks.” He gave a small wave which she returned with a nod. The sly smile curled up to her eyes which he felt boring into his back as he continued down the row of stores. The feeling made him shiver. 

With the way Muffet acted, Sans sometimes wondered if she too could see others souls. Despite Snowdin’s cold having ill effects on spiders, he was more than sure she had blackmail material on every monster in the wintery town. From some of the passing comments she had made to Sans in the past, over the few times they had spoken, she may well have figured out that he holds the position of Royal Judge. Making her one of three people to hold that knowlege. The others being the Queen, of course and Grillby, who found out some way down the line, probably during one of Sans’ classic drunken rants. 

Speaking of the fire elemental, Grillby heaved crates, barrels, boxes and folding chairs of different descriptions to the front of his bar. Any old junk that could be used as a chair or table was wedged into the snow. 

‘Someone’s up early.’ He called as Sans approached. 

The checked the time on his phone. “Hey, it's nearly midday.” 

‘That’s my point.’ The elemental joked. 

“Nice burn.” He leant on a crate. “You seem like you’re in a good mood.” 

Grillby huffed, smoke and crackling sparks of flame dancing from his head. ‘Staying positive.’ He said, in a less than positive way.

“You need a hand setting up?” 

‘You don’t mind?’ He couldn’t hide his surprise. 

Sans shrugged and followed his friend into the building. 

Turns out the elemental had spent his free time over previous weeks attempting to mend the jukebox which had sat lifelessly in the corner for many months now. Grillby looked slightly confused when Sans had accepted the challenge to get it working before the first customers arrived. He had been even more confused when the skeleton blinked back into existence a minute later with a toolbox. 

The thing was old and rusty, clearly found in the dump. It had many parts Sans was not familiar with, though he could take some guesses at their function. He had not worked on anything like this for a very long time, not properly since the lab. 

The recalled building machinery in the lab, Alphys was always much better than him, she had such a gift for understanding their workings and would often add little modifications and upgrades onto Sans’ projects, whenever their boss wasn’t paying attention. Something which was always very humorous to them both. Their boss was always so stern-.

The memory was interrupted by what felt like a kick to the skull. Steadying himself on the side of the music player, his head felt empty except for a light buzzing. What was he just thinking about? The lab maybe? Something had happened there in his final days there, he couldn’t recall what but it had stopped him from picking up another science book or building anything for a very long time. 

He guessed it was a result of the timelines messing with his head. Sans was forever confusing them. 

Focusing briefly on anything else, he spotted Grillby who lit the hanging lamps along the walls of the building. The elemental would change the flames in his hand to different colours with a light hissing and the occasional crackle. Upon contact, the flames would burn the colour he chose. Pinks, blues, reds and whites now lit the interior. With the addition of candles littering the tables, the bar looked happily festive. A single string of lights had even been included around the bar, someone had clearly splashed out on decorations!

Thought he didn’t quite keep to the time limit of finishing before the first customer, the jukebox could just about cough a handful of tunes by the time its surgery was completed and Sans reattached the panelling. Just about ready for a very busy day. 

By now the street was filling steadily with monsters many shapes and sizes, all wrapped in warm clothing. The mood was one of cheer, a light dusting of snow was falling, a band which Sans recognised from the MTT resort was playing near the shining centre tree. A small wooden stage had been set up and fliers for a talent show were being handed out by a bored looking Snowdrake, which his father seemed to have organised. Monsters exchanged gifts and stood chatting over food and hot drinks. The air buzzed with pleasant magic and festive joy in a way he hadn’t felt for a long time. Afterall, it had been a long time since his last Gyftmas; not that they really understood that at all. 

Back outside his house, Papyrus had set up his food stall and was now joined by Undyne. The two looked like they were having a blast especially since their conflicting schedules had denied them many training sessions or ‘best friend hangout times’. They were the first food stall by the entrance to town, this seemed to be a good tactical position, there stood a steady que of people waiting to be served.

“Hey bro, hey Undyne. You seem pretty buffet.” 

Papyrus shot him a disapproving glance, “Was that supposed to be a pun? Come on, Sans, I expect better from you… Well on second thoughts, maybe not.” He poured a healthy dollop of baked beans onto a dragon monster’s pasta noodles topping it off with a delicate pinch of parsley before handing them the paper plate. 

“Wazzup’, Shorty!” Called Undyne, shooting him a grin. She had made a massive crate of cakes and brought along a large pot of some sort of steaming drink. Had she carried all of this from her house?! Sans laughed to himself as he returned her greeting, of course she had. 

Papyrus piled the next plate with spaghetti noodles, cheese, carrot sticks and tinned mango chunks before dropping a ladle of tomato sauce over the top, as requested by the next customer (who seemed to be being dared by his friends). 

“We’re doing super well already! Everyone is stopping for spaghetti and Undyne’s cakes are simply delightful!” Papyrus half shouted in excitement.   
“That’s great, bro. Proud of ya.” 

Undyne spoke up over the crowd, “You been helping out with anythin’ so far?” She asked Sans, who shrugged.

“Nah, it's my day off, thought I’d just chill and see whats up.” He replied with a grin, which she did not return. She had never shown much interest in the older skeleton brother, their personalities conflicted too much for them to really have much in common. However, her indifference to him had shifted slowly into mild dislike throughout the years. Sans hadn’t bothered to consider why or do anything to change that.

She drew her attention back to serving customers. 

Browsing the ‘Pasta Pick ‘n’ Mix’, Sans grabbed a large marshmallow from one of the bowls. 

Papyrus shot him an accusing look. “Erm, excuse me mister. I’d prefer it if you didn’t eat our ingredients.”

“You can put it on my tab.” Sans said, placing the marshmallow on his head.

“That’s not how things work in this house, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that bar tab of yours.” Papyrus scolded in what he must have thought was a whisper, though at his volume, was probably heard by everyone within a ten-foot radius. “I’ve been- what are you doing?” 

Sans winked as he slowly scooted further away, the marshmallow balancing on his head. “You said I couldn’t eat it, so I’m wearing it instead. That counts, right?” 

“WHAT? NO!” Exclaimed his brother. The young monster who stood waiting for his pasta looked mildly uncomfortable. 

Sans laughed and called back, “I should _mellow_ out now, bro, or you’ll be scaring your guests away. Seeya.”

Aside from needing to slip away when his magic pinged a disturbance in the Queen’s castle, the very uneventful trip to the Judgment Hall went unnoticed. Just some kind souled creature insecure enough that they felt the need to be evaluated, to check whether they were still ‘good enough to stick around’. 

Speaking from his dark corner of the hall, he’d try to give them some reassurance, some encouraging words to tell them they weren’t that bad. The kind of ‘don’t give up’ speech someone like Papyrus would be able to reel off with unwavering conviction but just felt untrue coming from him. 

Though Sans was very used to the near monotony of slipping away to be Royal Judge and was usually very good with his words (if he said so himself). Though the skeleton often wished he had the kindness and patience of his brother. He regularly wondered what Papyrus would say to those poor souls. He had considered this since viewing the other skeleton’s interactions with the human, the many times they Reset. 

Leaning against the outside of the bar, he simply viewed passers-by until a voice shook him from his internal musings. 

“Hello, Sans!” Rang a cheery voice, his vision suddenly filling with white fluff and many tiny dot eyes and little smiles.

“Oh, Cloudnine! Enjoying the weather? I’d say this snow is _white_ on time.” 

The little cloud’s faces all squeaked in excitement as it fluttered around the air. A familiar yellow lizard trudged around the corner, stirring a hot drink with a frown. 

“Haha! It's _snow_ nice to see you again, I’ve spent a lot of time working in the capital recently. Its nice to be back. Mr Goldwell is glad to be here too, I promise. If he gives off a _frosty_ reception, it’s just because he’s cold.” The tiny monster bumped Goldwell’s shoulder who now wore a pained expression thanks to the joke. 

Sans on the other hand was more than happy. Had he finally found another creature who appreciated awful puns? “Ay, nice! Thought I hadn’t seen you around in a while.” … But then with a name like ‘Cloudnine’, you either love puns or hate your existence. 

Th cloud monster giggled, “Is that a new hat you’re wearing?” 

What hat? Oh. Sans pulled the marshmallow off his head. “Yeah, I guess you could say that, pretty sweet, right?” Apparently, he had been wearing it for the last few hours. Cool. 

“How can you just stand there? Its freezing!” The lizard suddenly snapped in a slightly amazed slightly annoyed tone. “Look, you’re even wearing slippers! How?!” He gestured up and down at the skeleton. 

“I’m pretty chill when it comes to the cold. That's what happens when you’re as thick boned as me, don’t feel it much.” He replied with a shrug.   
The floaty little monster buzzed with laughter once more, “That was pretty good too. I only know jokes about the weather. Well, I only really know anything about the weather, I used to do medical science but I don’t have much interest in that any more. Hey, we’re gonna see what’s going on around here, you wanna come too?” Cloud jabbered quickly in his squeaky voice. 

Sans agreed to tag along as they did another circuit of the small town. They chatted about that they had been doing recently, Cloud’s work in weather patterns, Goldwell’s business (“Self-run, no funding! It’s still fairly small but I managed to acquire a few more of the new builds in town so I can expand from here since Snowdin is the hotspot on everyone’s radar at the moment. I’m thinking of branching into tourism soon, too!” He had quickly jumped into when asked), and the general lack of anything happening on the Sentry front. 

“How is that investigation of yours coming along?” Goldwell said in a mock whisper. 

“Well, it's more my bro’s thing, to be honest. The rest of us aren’t really doing much for it.” Sans admitted. “He’s ruled out a few possible things but I don’t think we’re too close to figuring it out though.”

A bitter look crossed the lizard’s face, he began to speak but his words were lost in the noise of the crowd, Sans only caught the slight sneer of his facial expression.

“What was that?” He asked.

Goldwell coughed, his irritated look replaced with something much lighter. “I said I wish your brother the best of luck!” A long snake-like smile twisted up his face. 

They waved hello to the bug couple when passing. Shrubberthree jumped up and gave Goldwell a hug with their weedy feet and leaves when they saw him. Sans introduced them to Papyrus and Undyne. Goldwell especially seemed quite impressed that the skeletons had connections with such a high-ranking member of the Underground. 

They stopped to pick up coffees from an intricately painted stall. The wooden banner read ‘Break Fluid- The Coffee Makers (Come here often? Our ‘Deja Brew’ loyalty card is now available!). Cloud declined, Sans opted for whatever, really and Goldwell ordered the most caffeine intense brew they had. It seemed the businessman had a loyalty card and was quick to collect the stamp for Sans’ drink as well as his own. 

“Milk or sugar?” The lizard asked, twisting around to where the other two chatted to another Snowdin dweller. 

Sans glanced over his shoulder, “Eight sugars, please, no milk.” 

The coffee was alright but had a strange underlying taste his couldn’t place. A syrupy film sat atop the drink, it was odd but not terrible. The sugar destroyed any potential taste anyway as he stirred it. 

“Your drink ok?” Goldwell’s two big and numerous little pink eyes flicked between the skeleton and his Styrofoam cup. 

Sans waved it off, “Yeah, wasn’t expecting the taste.”

“You… want me to swap it? I think it said something about a home blend.” He asked, uncertain.

“Oh, did it? That’s cool well they can _espresso_ themselves through their coffee. I don’t mind. If it burns me again though it’ll be _grounded._ ” He said with a wink, taking another sip. 

Goldwell stared, his broken looking tail twitched. “Ok.” It looked like he was having a hard time processing the joke. “I think they got my order wrong too.” He tutted, sourly. “Useless monsters.” 

A familiar voice sounded behind the group calling for Sans, who turned to find Toriel in the crowd. 

“Hey, Tori!” The much taller monster pulled him off his feet into a crushing hug. His now dumbstruck group watching. 

“Knock Knock.” She said

He grinned, “Who's there?”

“Avery.”

“Avery who?” 

“Avery merry Gyftmas!” She cheered, squeezing him into another hug.

They laughed and told bad jokes, the Queen joining their group for a while. Cloud eventually felt confident enough to offer some weather related jokes into the mix. 

Toriel beamed at the cotton white monster, who could easily fit in her hand, “Pardon me for asking but do I remember you from the weather forecast?”  
Cloudnine looked shocked, “Y-you remember that? I was only on there a few times. They said I spoke too fast and talked like it was a science lesson, so I don’t do the broadcasts anymore.” 

“Did they really say that?” Said Toriel, “I thought it was quite sweet, you were clearly very passionate about the subject.” 

They talked some more, Goldwell had the opportunity to rant about his up and coming business. The afternoon passed pleasantly. Sans found himself enjoying the busy celebration more than anything he had done recently, in the company of new and old friends. 

Cloud seemed to be a gentle soul, with surprisingly high attack magic. The little creature had managed to acquire execution points from somewhere, though Sans doubted this was due to any malicious intent, the bubbly many faced monster had something… off about it’s soul. Something remained hidden or obscured. It was odd and slightly unnerving. Sans shrugged it off as an abnormal quirk, Souls had those occasionally. 

As for Goldwell, he seemed like a decent monster with a scuffed, darkened soul. Like most of the population, really. The poor monster was trying, he had clearly seen some hardships but was fighting through them, making a life and growing a business. Sans greatly respected him for that while wishing he too could have that level of drive. The eight eyed lizard had a curious Lv-0, ExP-0, Atk-0 and Def-0. What little magic he had stayed curled around the monster’s soul, making it rather difficult to pick up on his mood. Again, unusual, though not unheard of. 

Sans concluded he was starting to really enjoy the company of these monsters. 

Unfortunately, the Queen was only able to visit for a short while and had promised to be elsewhere. She shook Goldwell’s hand and pressed her palm onto Cloudnine in a kind of high-five. “Remember to check your mail, Sans.” She said in a rather motherly tone as she hugged him. 

“Uh, you know, it might be better to just text me.” He mumbled.

“Not if it's important. Check your mail.” She said with finality. 

“Sure, Mom.” He conceded. 

She smiled, having done her job. “I’m baking on Tuesday, come over if you aren’t busy, bring Papyrus- I found a lovely apricot and chestnut recipe in the old man’s cupboard which I’d like to try out.” 

They said their goodbyes and parted ways. Goldwell was also ready to leave, he looked ready to turn into an ice statue. 

The snow was coming in thicker and faster now and the light had dimmed enough to appreciate the decorations adorning each house. The talent show was underway. A reptilian and a cat monster recited a heavily practiced rendition of one of Mettaton’s song and dance numbers while Snowdrake and his Father argued off to stage left. It seemed the ice monster wanted to get up and perform one of his comedy sketches, much to the disapproval of his Dad. 

The ‘Pick ‘n’ Mix Pasta’ was selling remarkably well still, Papyrus must be running low in ingredients. Every other monster seemed to have tried it, he saw a few plates half covered in snow and many piled into the bins, half eaten. Some monster were being more ambitious with their choice of food combinations than others. Papyrus must be having a great time! 

“No, that’s it for me, any longer and you’ll find my dust frozen in the snow.” Goldwell said, pulling his scarf up further around his neck.   
“Heh, Snowdin is less of a _hotspot_ than people think, right?” Sans joked with a wink. “You should come hang out some time, I’m in Grillby’s most evenings, I’m easy to find.”

The monsters two main pink eyes blinked slowly, “Y-yes, I’d like that! We should get some drinks some time.” The long stretchy smile slid around his face, uneven sharp teeth poking out here and there. 

“That goes for you, too, Cloud.”

The little faces that made up Cloud all beamed, “Wonderful, I look forward to-. Oh, there you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.” He said, spotting someone over Sans’ shoulder. Goldwell saw them too and noticeably stilled. His oddly bent tail twitching in discomfort. 

Turning on the spot, Sans came face to no face with Egg. The monster still gave radiated a standoffish vibe which might well have been natural to him. 

There was a pause before Cloud continued as if something had been said, “Yeah, I remembered and-. No, well, I suppose I could have, yes.” 

Another pause, “Look, its fine, really. I’ve been with Goldwell and Sans all afternoon, we’ve had a lovely time. What have you been up to?”

Sans and Goldwell gave each other a side glance, not knowing what to do. Cloud continued again, as if spoken to. “Yeah, I imagine it has been busy in there. I’ll come too.” He turned in the air to face the rest of the group once more. “Lovely seeing you, merry Gyftmas, enjoy the snow!” 

With that he floated back to Egg, who seemed to eyelessly scrutinise the other two before slowly turning to leave. As the egg turned, Sans peered at his soul. Oh, wow. Four Levels of Violence was impressive. 

Goldwell seemed to breathe again and slowly creaked back into movement. He made his slow trudge back towards Waterfall. 

In the evening they tidied away the food stall. Papyrus’s spaghetti had sold incredibly well, they boxed up any leftovers to be eaten throughout the week. Undyne’s cakes hadn’t gone down too badly either, only a few slices remained. These were finished off by Alphys who arrived in the early evening in a big coat and scarf. 

The main event of the celebration was happening any minute, the group of monsters scurried out of the skeleton’s house and down the packed main street. It felt like most of the Underground had come down to celebrate the festivities. In the low light, every inch of Snowdin glowed every colour. Children partook in snowball fights between houses, occasionally pelting passers-by before running to hide. Undyne dodged easily when one flew her way, instead it collided with Alphys and dripped down the inside of her scarf. 

The snow was still falling thickly, though not thick enough to hide the occasional pile of what looked like throw-up spaghetti littering the snow. Thankfully, nobody mentioned this to Papyrus. 

Mettaton was filming the goings on, interviewing passers-by who were all being dragged on the spot in front of the camera. They managed to get a space in the crowd where they could just about see the tree in the centre of the town. Just as the noise of the crowd started to dim into a whisper and dissipate into quiet.

Heavy stomps echoed and bounced between the buildings. A figure moved in the darkness from the direction of the forest path. Towering, large glowing eyes and twinkling lights haloed above it. The Gyftrot stomped slowly towards the centre of town, towering nearly twenty-foot tall, the largest monster in the Underground and unbelievably old. Fairy lights wrapped around its antlers and steam billowed from its odd vertical mouth.

As it neared the tree it stooped down, placing its head ground level. Two monsters in Santa costumes wrapped gifts around its horns, offering wreaths and intricate crafts made by locals and the school in the Capital. When this was done, its massive head rose back to peer down at the gathered crowd. 

With a flick of its head a field of magic lights and stars zapped and shot through the air above the crowd. Cheers rang out with shouts of joy and squeals from children. Pops and bangs of coloured light that shone all the way up into the clouds, silhouetting the falling snow.

When the show was over, the Gyftrot silently bowed its head, turned and slowly made its way back along the path. However, a flash of silver and a robotic cough made it pause half way down the path. Mettaton held his microphone up high. 

“What a spectacular performance, darling! Now as typically a silent watcher over the Snowdin forest I wonder if you could spare a few words for an interview? Hmm?” Mettaton asked in a sickly-sweet tone, unperturbed by the mutters of rudeness nearby. 

The Gyftrot slowly turned its head down to face the robot and stared for an uncomfortably long time. Then with a great stomp form a single hoof,- SPLAT! What could have been a whole snow drifts worth of snow appeared above Mettaton and his camera man and crashed down, burying them.   
It seemed to grunt in amusement along with many viewers. Its thudding footsteps echoed back into the forest where it disappeared once more. The Mayor’s voice rang amongst the crowd, “Merry Gyftmas everybody! All the love in the Underground goes out to you all from Snowdin. Now, lets enjoy the party!” 

The crowd erupted into cheers and the band kicked back into song. 

As they were heading back to the skeleton’s residence, they passed Muffet’s bake sale. The spider was staring intently at something, following her gaze was… Egg? Cloud was floating around chatting excitedly around him. Egg turned to Muffet’s direction and the two exchanged a small nod, the spider’s smile curling up in a sly expression. 

Sans blinked in surprise, did the two know each other? It would certainly appear so. Another thing that puzzled him was the unlikely duo of Cloudnine and the Egg. The little cotton ball seemed perfectly calm with the strangely aggressive monster. Lv. 4! Wow! This was a seriously uncool guy. Sans imagined Egg being the one earlier today to be judged. He would have decided their fate in no time at all.

The contemplation was ended as they trudged through the front door into the bright living room. Papyrus diving into the kitchen to make hot drinks, Alphys especially was freezing. This was part of their Gyftmas tradition, Undyne and Alphys had been celebrating with them for years. It usually involved late nights, too much ice cream and weird movies usually supplied by Alphys. 

“Ok, scrubs, I hope you all got something for the Secret Santa!” Undyne yelled. “Unless you wanna answer to me!” Everyone placed their gifts into a bag and reached in to grab another back out at random.

Undyne pulled out a paper bag, crinkled and folded over with one strip of sticky tape securing it. Alphys grabbed a gift immaculately wrapped in shiny red paper. Papyrus got one wrapped in paper decorated with little fish and the final one went to Sans, with slightly messy wrapping and a bright pink bow attached. 

Alphys was first to giggle as she held up a pair of odd-looking slippers. They had little droopy bits on the bottoms which reminded Sans of squids.   
“Haha! Duster slippers! I can clean the floor as I walk, t-thanks Papyrus!” She said, wiggling them onto her feet. 

“Urm, I think you mean Santa.” Papyrus scolded. 

Flicking open the tiny bit of tape sealing the bag before unnecessarily shredding the brown bag into dust, Undyne turned around the plastic tub in her hands. “Hah! Nice one, Santa.” She held up the packet of chocolate Gyftrot poos. How festive. 

Peeling off the bow, Sans unwrapped the flexible object. Revealing… oh cool, a comic book. Flicking through it he soon realised that, well, this was a very specific type of comic. 

“Ooh, what is that, Sans?” Asked Papyrus who had opened his box to reveal a very nice little cake. Though, it had been rather battered in the box.  
“Hentai. Have a look.” He said quite nonchalant. Handing the book over.

Slowly flicking the pages, the skeleton’s expression went from interested to puzzled to horrified to intrigued and back round again. 

Sans caught Alphys’ eye. She wore a deep blush and was barely containing her laughter, clearly this was exactly what she had wanted. 

Papyrus held up a particularly graphic page, “Can humans really do that?” He asked, slightly alarmed. Undyne’s eyebrows rose higher than what should be possible and the lizard snorted beside her. 

“I dunno, Paps. I mean I’ve seen them do some pretty crazy things in anime, sooo.” Undyne trailed off. A determined grin back on her face she called, “Hey, try your cake!” 

Papyrus pulled his attention back out of the book which he threw back to his brother. “Oh yes, it does look wonderful!” The skeleton unwrapped the cake properly and took a large bite. 

By this point Undyne’s face had curled into a sly grin and her yellow eye glinted with something villainous. Oh dear. “It’s a new recipe I wanted to try- I mean Santa wanted to try.”

There passed a few seconds of quiet. Alphys, probably feeling awkward, opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by a shriek so loud it threatened to shatter glass. 

On his feet in a flash, Papyrus bounced off the sofa clutching his face. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” 

“Chilli cake!” Undyne responded with a jagged grin. “Lots n’ lots of powder and sauce.” She howled in laughter as Papyrus barrelled through the door and landed face down in the snow. 

From where he sat, sans peered out of the window. Steam seemed to hiss from the snow around his brother who lay twitching, making odd noises. “Umm, I think he’s ok.” 

Eventually, they heaved a sorry looking Papyrus back through the door. He looked slightly betrayed. Undyne still laughing. 

“You know.” Croaked the skeleton as he stared at his Captain, slightly distraught. “I actually lost HP from that.” 

“Wait, shit, really?” She shouted. “Dude, sorry, it was roulette who got that cake.”

Papyrus nodded. “language.” He coughed out.

“OMG, Undyne, y-you could have killed Sans! H-he has really low HP!” Alphys hissed out.

Sans blinked. “Yeah, actually. Heh.” He grinned at her, not caring as much as he probably should have, this was pretty funny. 

The evening continued with Undyne hauling in another load of snacks and several crates of beer. Apparently, she had carried all of these from home, too. Her and Papyrus noisily hurried into the kitchen with at least five boxes of microwave popcorn, ready for movie time. Sans clamed his usual seat on the sofa, scrunched into the corner while Alphys reshuffled in her beanbag. 

“So, Alph, you had a chance to look at that stuff I gave you?” Sans asked, quieter than he probably needed to be, judging by the racket the others were making in the kitchen. 

Her head tilted in momentary confusion. “Oh, Flowey’s dust?” She chirped.

Sans shushed her and Alphys, realising the situation ducked her head and glanced about in a threatened way that reminded them of their evening in the depths of Waterfall. “Y-you mean t-that?” She whispered again.

The others had taken no notice, Sans nodded in response, keeping an eye on the where shadows of his friends danced on the wall, from where he could not see them. 

Alphys shook her head. “I’d love t-to but I’ve been too busy! The queen has me working on alternate power sources, I’m m-mostly looking at those crystals, remember? I actually thought those ones we collected would be my best bet, t-they hold a lot of power b-but too much and they just, POW!” The lizard imitated an explosion with her arms. “I’ve, um, had a few near misses.” She confessed.

Sans nodded, knowing crystals as magic power cells was not a particular specialty of either of theirs. “I imagine they can be pretty _gemanding_. Is there anyone who can give you a hand with that kind of thing?” Sans asked.

“Not really… And I’ll be honest, I d-don’t really like other people in the lab anymore. Y-you know how it is. There’s been a mousy monster who keeps emailing me about needing to analyse some magic residue for Undyne. Undyne hasn’t m-mentioned it to me thought, so I haven’t been responding.”  
“Oh. That’s for this investigation in Snowdin, I think that’s the magic they took from the house.” Sans said, giving a jab in the direction of Ms Truffle’s old home. He laughed, “Don’t tell Papyrus you’re holding up his investigation.” 

Alphys looked at the mind-map of people and places pinned to the wall. “Yeah, he sure seems dedicated.” The wall now included hand-drawn images of every monster who had possibly ever lived in Snowdin. All still listed under ‘Suspicious’, including Sans and Papyrus himself. 

After a minute pause, Alphys held up two fingers at him, “Two t-things- One, would it, umm...” She trailed off looking at the ground before gathering her courage, “C-could you give me a hand i-in the lab at s-some point? Only i-if you can, it’s not a b-big deal, I-.”

Sans mercifully cut in, “Sure, why not. I’ve been on a roll today, already got my tool box out for the first time in years probably. What’s number two?”  
She grinned up at him, “Thanks! Only i-if you aren’t busy, ok? Umm, ok.” She peered over her shoulder and whispered, “Have there been any more Resets since we last spoke?” 

“Nah, nothing. Its been ages.” He replied quietly. 

She sighed in relief.

They sat in silence, listening to what was likely the microwave screeching in protest to whatever torture it was experiencing at the hands of Undyne and his brother. Smoke was steadily seeping into the living room. 

“So. Hows it going with Undyne?” Sans said, initiating conversation once more.

The effect of his words was instantaneous. She jolted so much her glasses nearly flew off. “Wha- what d-do you m-mean?” She asked flustered.  
Calmly, as if she didn’t look like she had just stuck her tail in a power outlet, he continued, “Well, you like her don’t you? More than friends?”   
“W-was I that obvious?!” Alphys looked dumbfounded. 

He shrugged, “Well, yeah, to me it is. Are ya’ dating her yet or has that not happened yet this time?” 

Her mouth was agape. Alphys, glanced over her shoulder again and shuffled off her bean bag. She crawled over to the sofa and leaned over next to Sans. “I-I was kinda wanting to t-talk to her a-at some point t-this evening. I’m not sure if I c-can do it though.” She said in her most hushed voice. “What if she doesn’t f-feel the same?”

“Oh, trust me, she does. Go for it, talk to her.” He chuckled.

Alphys blabbered incoherently for a second before pausing to contain herself, “B-but how? HOW do I talk to her?! I’ve b-been trying for months. What if the transition from friends doesn’t work?” 

“Honestly Alph, I have zero experience with this. Just trust me, grab a beer and have some courage.” 

“You do have experience though, r-right? You and Grillby?” She asked.

It was Sans’ turn to look surprised. “Oh. Umm, no. No that’s all made up, I needed an alibi for something, we just ran with that. Don’t tell anyone.” He said, his voice a slightly higher pitch than intended. Hopefully Alphys hadn’t noticed. 

Clearly, she had noticed. A sad smile pulled the edges of her eyes, “Really? That’s kinda sad. You w-were sort of my inspiration for wanting to talk to Undyne tonight… T-the kissing under the stars in Waterfall still happened though, right?” Her claws digging into the sofa.

“Who told you that? No, no, sorry.” Sans waved it off, hoping his grin was convincing. 

“Ooh! What’re you guys chatting about?” Undyne called, stepping into the room. Her and Papyrus carried about seven large bowls of popcorn. Sans wondered where they found all the bowls, he was sure they didn’t have that many. 

Alphys all but jumped out of her skin. Her scales clicked together as she spun around. “Umm, eh, we were just t-talking about Sans a-and Grillby.” She stammered, backing away to her beanbag. 

A devilish grin crept up, seemingly splitting Undyne’s face in half as she stared down at Sans. Though she towered over him, her stance always strong, hands on her hips; Sans held her gaze from his curled position on the sofa. The skeleton shot her a quizzical look. 

Somewhere off to the side, Papyrus sighed dramatically and mumbled something.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about that. Who would’ve thought the runt would be the first one of us to get out of the single zone!” Undyne laughed.  
Again, Papyrus chided her for being so rude. “You can’t call people runts, Undyne!” He called from only a few paces away. To Sans it could have been a mile. 

He met the Captain’s stare with challenge. Magic sparked in the air. Undyne grinned wider, sensing the possibility of a fight. “Yep. Sounds like you need to break a leg if ya’ wanna catch up.” He said, firm, not breaking eye contact.

“W-wow, guys? Chill out!” Alphys said, flinging a beer towards Undyne who noticed and caught it last second. Another collided with the side of Sans’ skull with a dull ‘thunk’. 

Papyrus was striding across the room, his arms raised in disbelief, “You two can be so silly! If you want a snowball fight then you can go outside, I’ve already been covered in snow once this evening and don’t very much fancy it again.” 

With that, all attention was diverted to their surroundings and the magic tingling in the air dissipated. Sans was mildly surprised the fish monster hadn’t at the very least summoned an attack. The challenge of potential combat was never something she walked away from easily, Undyne always had something to prove. It wouldn’t be the first timeline if she had decided to take a swing at him. Was it something about that subject in particular that had set her off or just him in general? Sans didn’t care enough to give it any more thought.

“I haven’t said it yet, maybe because I was in shock, but well done, brother, I didn’t imagine you being on the dating scene.” Papyrus said. “But I can promise you it shall be me next, not to make it a contest or anything,” He added in when Undyne seemed to jump to attention, “I mean, who wouldn’t want to date me?”

The room was quiet. Sans eventually raised his hand, “Not me thanks, bro.” 

Alphys cringed and shook her head. 

“Nah thanks, Paps, it’s the friend zone for you unfortunately.” Undyne said, jumping onto the sofa, threatening to spill the large bowl of popcorn she carried. 

“Well screw you all then.” Papyrus said, throwing his arms up. 

The atmosphere mellowed out when they all took their seats with Papyrus in the middle, separating his brother and best friend. Whether this was a conscious decision, Sans could only speculate. They ate ice cream and chose a movie from the selection Alphys had brought. 

“Human Centipede sounds pretty funny.” Papyrus said, now mostly recovered from his cake ordeal. 

Alphys pushed her glasses up her snout, “Yeah, I haven’t seen it yet. Sounds like a comedy though.” 

“I don’t wanna watch Hostel, it sounds boring.” Said Undyne.

They settled on ‘Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’ for coolness as well as cultural relevance. 

“Did monsters really used to get that big?” Papyrus asked as Godzilla crushed part of a building under his foot.

“Well, t-theres evidence to suggest they were b-big. So, I guess so.” Alphys said, finishing her second beer.

Undyne cheered when the human soldiers were annihilated by Godzilla. Popcorn covered the room by this point. And Alphys was… on another drink already. Cool. 

After some complaints that Baragon, a fourth monster was in the movie, hadn’t made the title, Sans opted to take a nap. He woke to the excitement during the final fight. It seemed like everyone had chosen a favourite monster who they wanted to win and were cheering them on excitedly. Ghidorah had finally shown up, he looked pretty flashy. 

The end of the movie resulted in a deeper than usual discussion over the way monsters were portrayed in film, their historical inaccuracies and whether there could still be the odd monster living on the surface helping to make these. 

They let Sans fall asleep again.

He awoke to a dramatic retelling of ‘The Great Papyrus and The Dogs Vs Tyrin the Wendigo (and to a lesser degree, his kid): A Clash of Really Cool Fighty Battles’. Undyne currently had a cullender on her head and was pretending to have been defeated by Papyrus, who kept insisting that these creatures were, regardless of violence, some of his best friends. 

The Captain seemed to think the whole event was pretty impressive. Alphys swayed slightly with something else on her head, clearly meant to be representing another character. Sans was reminded that he ought to start a screening process for anyone wanting to be Papyrus’s friend. 

His brother concluded the story by mentioning how Sans had thoroughly freaked out upon discovering his injuries. This caused Undyne to burst into tearful laughter. 

“Did ya go down there and show those guys not to mess with your bro?” She asked in a what Sans expected would have been a slightly mocking voice had she not been trying to quell her laughter. 

Sans shrugged from his curled position on the sofa. “Yeah. I would have. I don’t know where they live though. Wish I did.” He said with absolute honestly. If he had any idea which corner of the forest the den lay, everything in there would be dust. He’d gained Lv from monsters who hurt his brother before, it wasn’t new. 

There was recognition in the way Undyne stared him down. She could read his honesty but clearly doubted his ability. Which was quite understandable, it wasn’t like she knew anything about him at all. 

When Undyne finally averted her eyes back to her bowl of ice cream he noticed Alphys, who clearly hadn’t managed to say anything to her yet. With a hiss, the seal of another beer can clicked off. 

“Whoa, Alph, slow down.” He warned as Undyne went back to loudly joking with Papyrus. 

She met his eye with an almost determined look, “Courage.” She whispered back. 

Slightly alarmed, Sans wondered whether the determination was more for getting wasted enough to speak her mind rather than the speaking part itself. 

It was all vey loud. Papyrus and Undyne were noisier than usual and the TV was at a volume higher than necessary. It made napping more difficult. Very tempting was the idea to go and sit in his room, maybe take a shortcut from there to see if Grillby’s was any quieter now, which he doubted. A walk around Hotlands would be nice. An odd thought but one which sounded more appealing the more he processed it. 

Not too long later, Alphys turned a sickly green colour and with a wobble, bolted out the front door into the cold. After Undyne returned inside with her several minutes later it was agreed she should probably skip the sleepover part of the evening and go to bed. Sans offered to take her, the Scientist gave a grateful but unsteady nod of her head. 

Hotland was quiet. Alphys said very little as she fumbled in her pockets for her keys. Which continued as she threw her coat onto the back of her desk chair. Sans threw some tea onto the boil, taking him longer than usual due to Alphys’ modified kettle, which did not really resemble a kettle any longer. 

Upon returning she had huddled in a blanket at her computer desk, tail curled around her toes. 

“There’s always tomorrow, Alph.” Sans said consolingly, handing over the large pink cat mug. 

“Thanks.” She muttered. 

Sans looked over her desk, a blueprint for something he couldn’t identify and wad of small wires connected intricately to a small device. “Cool, urr, what you been working on?” He asked, trying to dispel any awkwardness.

She seemed to find a stain on the far wall very interesting and stared it down. “Have I ever talked to Undyne about… that?” She muttered.  
“Yeah, you have. Once or twice. Usually with a bit of help, but it’s happened.” Sans admitted. 

“Uh huh.” She took a sharp intake through her nose. Just above a whisper she said, “You could have helped.”

She was right. He stayed silent, not hiding the guilt carried through his magic.

Eventually he moved from her side stepping towards the door. “Yeah, I could have. Sorry.” He stopped and turned back, “We’ll try again, don’t want you to be _bonely_ forever, right. I’d say there’s plenty of fish in the sea but you seem to have your eye on one in particular.” He winked.

“Sans. Just stop, please.” Monotone, still staring at the far wall. 

He sighed, “Ok, sorry. I’ll… seeya.” 

Closing the door softly behind him, he heard it remotely lock. 

Hotland’s warmth was a pleasant companion. It was an easy decision not to rejoin the party, not that he hadn’t been enjoying his first Gyftmas in what felt like a long time. His mind went into a haze as his feet carried him down one of the dirt paths, the only light emanating from the nearby molten flows. 

Sans wondered off into the night.


	10. Sherlock Bones

The house was a mess. A real disaster zone.

Popcorn lined every surface, enough that it looked like it had snowed indoors. Furniture had been stacked into towers, each item balancing atop the other. The smell of burning clung to the walls. Parties at the Skeleton residence were always a riot.

Undyne and Papyrus both woke at the crack of dawn, energetically, despite only getting only a few hours of sleep. One pillow fight later, and a jog around Snowdin town (which turned into a race halfway through, resulting in an epic sprint to the finish which Undyne had won.) and they returned to the Skeleton’s house for an epic cookout and probably a tidy up. All before 7:00am.

The first beams of pale morning began to glow through the windows. Sans trudged downstairs looking slightly groggier than usual. The sulphur smell of Hotland clinging to his hoody, complimenting the overall burnt smell of the house. 

Undyne noticed him as he slipped passed the odd towers of furniture. “What time d’you call this, ayy?” She greeted with a large grin. 

Sans all but walked passed her without acknowledgement until he reached the fridge. “I dunno. What time _is_ it?” He said with a slightly rough voice. Hood pulled tightly over his head. 

“6:47, precisely!” Papyrus happily informed him. “Good morning brother, did you rest well?” 

Sans turned to him, glass of milk in hand. Dark rings under his eyes and none of his usual grin. Wowie, he looked really rough.   
“No.” He said bluntly. 

Hands on hips, Papyrus sighed, “Were you having bad dreams again? You know you can always talk to me about these things.” 

His brother pulled away his eye contact and seemed to move double speed back towards the stairs, only grunting at Papyrus in response. 

Slightly frustrated by Sans’ ignorance, he called after him. “You should maybe cut down on your drinking, I’ve noticed you sleep worse after you’ve been out late. Perhaps if you spent less time there, you may find it benefits you in other aspects of life, also.” Papyrus said with slightly more bite than he intended. Despite this he didn’t feel guilty, it was something his brother needed to hear. 

The skeleton hurried back upstairs and out of sight without saying anything more. Only when his door slammed behind him did Papyrus remember he wasn’t otherwise alone in the house. 

“Dude.” Said Undyne, blinking between the two skeleton monsters. 

“My apologies, Undyne. That was rather tactless of me.” Papyrus admitted, now rather awkward that his friend had to witness whatever that had been.

She went back to the large tower of household items, hefting the whole thing, which included the washing machine. “Hey, no worries I-.” Her phone rang. Shifting the weight of the huge load onto one hand, Undyne answered. 

“What up dude, merry Gyftmas! Uh huh… What, you being serious?” She paused, her face shifting from carefree to serious.

From the broken half conversation, Papyrus could not gather what exactly was being spoken about. Whoever was on the other side of the line seemed to be reeling information out to her as quickly as possible.

“Where did you say?... Yeah ok. I’ll be there soon as I can.” She hurriedly hung up the call and spoke before Papyrus could ask what her troubled expression was all about. “Boots back on, Paps, somethin’s happened in Hotland.” Immediately grabbing her coat. 

He did the same, as if on reflex, “What kind of something?” The skeleton asked. 

“Same thing that happened down there,” The Captain pointed down towards Ms Truffle’s mangled home. “A house in Hotland just exploded, recon it was the same thing.”

They were already flying out of the front door, Papyrus tripping over his Sentry station, now covered in snow. “W-when you say ‘just’?” He questioned, not really processing any of this with the speed it was transpiring. 

Undyne set a running pace towards the entrance to Waterfall. “As in people just saw it explode.” 

“Oh my…” Papyrus said, focused on keeping up with Undyne. 

Regardless of the early hour, the Underground was quieter than usual. Today was considered a holiday and only the most essential staff were making their commute. The pair saw very few people as they splashed through the shallow streams of Waterfall. The quiet chirping of birds over the sound of roaring watery cascades would have been wonderfully pleasant had the urgency of getting to their destination had not been so overpowering at the front of their minds.

Some frogs leapt into the long water reeds as the friends sped past. The air changing from icy coldness as they made their way around rock faces and over bridges, further away from Snowdin’s low wintery cloud. 

They made their way past tall blue echo flowers. Some repeating back the splashing of the duo’s feet as the sloshed through the puddles of Waterfall’s craggy pathways. Some replayed rude sounds made by children, followed by their giggles. 

The strain of two morning jogs was beginning to wear on Papyrus. When Undyne slowed to a walk to answer some messages on her phone, he was rather glad. The other monster however hadn’t even broken a sweat. Further confirming his theory that Undyne could run a lap of the entire Underground, wall to wall without stopping and love every minute of it. 

“Well, the Hotland Guard seem to have everything under control. Wanna slow down for a bit?” She asked with a grin.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind that for just a second.” He admitted breathlessly. 

She nudged him in the ribs playfully carrying on at a half jog, half powerwalk speed. The skeleton was rather grateful for this mercy. They hopped over tangled undergrowth and edged around streams until the air became humid, the closer they got to Hotlands. 

“So whats up, you and your bro having some problems?” She asked casually and not like she had just ran several miles. 

“Not problems, per say. Sans can be rather… awkward at times.” He replied, able to speak now Undyne had let him recover from their breakneck pace.   
She glanced in his direction, “Awkward in what way?”

It took a minute to translate his thoughts to words, Papyrus could not remember discussing this subject so directly with anyone before. “He’s lazy, I mean of course he’s lazy, everyone knows that. But it’s more like Sans can’t bring himself to do anything. He can sleep all day sometimes and wake up looking like he hasn’t slept all week.” He sighed. “Lots of little things recently, you should see the state he can get himself into sometimes, I don’t know how he does it!” 

Papyrus wished he could go into more detail and be less vague, he realised that there was only so much he understood; thanks to Sans’ reluctance to talk on the subject.

“Maybe get him to go to the hospital?” Her face twisted into something mildly unpleasant. 

“I’ve tried to encourage him, a while back. I gave up eventually. His low HP has always made him tired, even when we were younger. I worry about it being that getting worse…” Papyrus said, having trouble maintaining his usual energy while being honest.

Undyne regarded him for a moment, “You worried he’s gonna fall down?” She asked, sounding more subdued than usual.

Yes, was the answer in short. Low HP monsters didn’t exactly have the greatest survival rate at the best of times. Though Papyrus would never say so directly. “I have hope it would never come to that.” Many tiny birds twittered in a thick bush as they passed, the skeleton grinned despite the subject. “Not when he has such a cool brother taking care of him!”

Undyne didn’t look too convinced, “It’s not about that, though is it, Pap? You shouldn’t have to ‘look after him’.”

“W-well, he always had to look after me when we were little, so it’s only fair that I-.”

“No, that’s not how it should work at all!” She interrupted, “He’s not Gerson’s age.” 

Her words made him pause. He opened his mouth to argue back but could think of nothing to oppose her with. She was correct. His magic shifted uneasily as uncomfortable thoughts churned about his head. 

Probably sensing her little victory, she continued. “Look… You know I’m not Sans’ biggest fan but I am probably _your_ biggest fan, just hear me out ok.” She gave him a sideward glance, “He studied for years for a good job, which he quit for no reason out of nowhere. Got in as a Sentry because you pushed for him to do it, a job which he only shows up for when it suits him. Runs a -might I add, illegal- hotdog stand, whenever he feels like hiding elsewhere. And spends every other hour he’s awake -which isn’t many, lets be honest, - at that bar.”   
She waited, giving Papyrus chance to speak, when he did not, she carried on, “I know the dogs aren’t much better, it’s a ritual at this point, to spend hours in that old place. Sans is kind of something else though, how many times a week does he come home after midnight barely able to walk? last I heard, Grillby has your phone number, so you can come and do the honours when your brother can’t even do that.” 

The skeleton sighed. It was true, all of it. They were on the cusp of Hotlands now, the path had turned to a sandy gravel and the ponds were warm and marshy. A strong smell of swamp and sewage filled his senses. 

The Captain stopped and turned to Papyrus, grasping his arm in a firm grip. “Regardless that he managed to raise you pretty well and regardless of how you remember things being nicer, that’s all nostalgia, it means nothing.” She shook him where she held, “You owe him nothing. You hear me? Absolutely nothing.” Undyne’s words were absolute. 

At a loss for words, Papyrus let his shoulders sag. He nodded, knowing, despite the endless belief he had in his brother, that she was correct. 

 

They followed a trail through one of the residential areas of Hotlands. A hilly area, below a towering residential block, crafted into the rockface of the tall cavern wall. The sulphur smell was tough to inhale; uncomfortable with the strong fumes produced from the nearby lava lakes. 

They heard the commotion before they saw the course. Many monsters gathered around one house in particular. Papyrus’s soul quickened at the sight of it, even from afar, it was clear it had, like it’s counterpart in Snowdin, been blown apart from the inside.

Guards blocked civilians from getting too close, one stepped forward upon seeing Undyne approaching. He was a huge ox- like monster, wearing a heavy set of armour and towering even above the Captain. 

Papyrus recognised him as being the leader of the Hotland Guard’s leader. The two stepped to the side to exchange words while the skeleton stayed respectfully out of earshot, loosening the scarf around his neck with the searing heat. 

A hand grasped his arm and pulled, sending him stumbling over to Undyne. “Don’t be shy, Paps!” She said, spinning him around to join the conversation. “Papyrus is in charge of the Snowdin Sentries, this is Ore, I’m sure you know who he is, yada yada whatever.” 

“Hello!” He cheerily greeted the stern-faced monster, towering at nearly double his height, waving his still odd-looking bandaged hand. 

The bull dipped his head low and slowly, “Greetings. You have been dealing with the last of these occurrences, correct?” He rumbled in the deepest voice the skeleton had ever heard. 

He opened his mouth to recount the dramatic investigation so far when Undyne butted in, “Yep, you got it! Papyrus will still be heading the case, so let him poke around if he needs to, yeah?”

Again, the ox dipped his head in reply. “I am grateful. Of course, in return I will offer help from my own Guards, also. Arcas and Fly are familiar with the scene of Snowdin’s accident, they will grant you any assistance you require in this matter.” 

Oh. So, despite how this had happened in Hotland, it was still Papyrus’s problem. It seemed a little unfair! At least this guy was giving a few people as helpers. Who were Arcas and Fly? How were they familiar with the scene at Snowdin, no other guards had shown any interest. He supposed they had been given a copy of Undyne’s report. 

He considered protesting but a certain thankfulness stopped him. Investigating this case had been the most excitement he had had in a long time. He knew the same could be said for the dogs and to a lesser degree, his brother. Undyne must have been super impressed with the progress reports the skeleton had been sending.

Of course this incident was being handed to him, The Great Papyrus, Master Detective and Pasta Specialist; was there anyone else better for the job? None Papyrus could think of.

Undyne agreed happily and thanked him, turning to get an ok from Papyrus who nodded with a renewed determination to see this mystery to its conclusion. 

“The two are already over there, keeping civilians out.” Ore said. 

With a salute, they parted ways. Papyrus followed Undyne as they made their way through the crowd and behind the line of Guardsmen. “Sorry, dude. Compared to Snowdin, the Guard in Hotland are constantly rushing about, dealing with this or that.” Undyne explained, “For Ore, spending a large amount of time dealing with a major incident would be a real inconvenience. Buuut, it means the case is still all yours. You also get to chat with some proper Guardsmen, ya might learn something from them.” She grinned, holding up a hand for Papyrus to wait while she slipped into the crowd.

The captain was right; getting to interact with the true Guardsmen as if they were equals! And of course, if he solved this great mystery, it would be more than enough to prove that he deserved a place in their ranks also. 

Papyrus didn’t need to wait long before Undyne reappeared with two monsters in tow.

The skeleton recognised both immediately. Arcas, the midnight blue bear, who’s fur sparkled like stars and the other who must have been Fly. The short lanky, sickly green insectoid monster. Both had accompanied Undyne to the crime scene in Snowdin, though neither had really said anything.  
“Arcas and Flyguy. Papyrus. You’ve all met each other before.” Undyne reintroduced them briefly. “C’mon, let’s have a look at this mess, shall we?” She let the two Hotland Guards lead the way. 

Papyrus said a short greeting to them both. Flyguy snorted a rough ‘Hi’ while Arcas silently bowed, his starry coat blinking. 

Undyne headed for the door of the house as they passed, until the small green monster spoke up. “Ehh, Captain, wouldn’t use th’ door. Things bit unsound. There’s way in round here.” He spoke in a dry gritty voice, rather like he had a cold. Papyrus noticed that much like the building in Snowdin, this house too had been forced open by busting the lock.

They stepped around the side of the building. The house was notably bigger than Ms Truffle’s and looked sturdier, probably for someone a bit larger than a mouse monster. They came to a blackened part of the wall where bits of the interior were visible where it had been blown through. Along two back walls, panels had been blown off and sent flying. The group stepped through the gap and into the house. 

Almost everything in the house had been blackened and turned to cinder. They stood in what was likely to have been a specious study. The thinner walls between rooms had been melted away, a kitchen and bedroom were visible from what. It still smelled strongly of burning and smoke still wafted into the air from what used to be piles of paper. 

No snow had fallen on the scene to obscure anything this time, the monster’s dust lay scattered, blown from the foot of a thick wooden centrepiece desk to the doorway, spread by the blast. 

The others took in the scene quietly. A mouse-like creature with a long scarf who Papyrus recognised worked with what resembled a science kit and a strange handheld contraption. He saw her occasionally in Snowdin. She had been at Ms Truffle’s house just after the incident had occurred, collecting magical residue. It seemed she had a lot to work with, still being so fresh, the air buzzed with an intense magic. 

A brief look around the house told him that this study was the largest room, a small television and sofa for one, were crammed into a spare room down the hallway. So, this monster seemed to be the intellectual type. This was confirmed by the thick science and maths textbooks which sat mostly undamaged in their hiding places. 

“We know who this was?” Undyne asked the room. 

The scarfed mouse turned from her little corner where she sat collecting samples. “Yes, Professor Ignis. He taught sciences at the University. I was taught by him myself.”

Papyrus piped up for the first time since entering the house, “My brother was taught by him as well. Alphys, too. They used to joke about his rather… eccentric behaviour.” He said, speaking his brainwave. 

Undyne seemed to remember also, she pointed back at Papyrus with a sudden look of recognition. “That’s right. Yeah that’s right. He was macaroni bath guy!”

Oh yeah, the story about the macaroni bath! 

The mousy monster continued, “Well Professor Macaroni lived alone and was rather old.” Which explained the layout of the house, “He was a fire salamander monster.” Seeing the confusion on the skeleton’s face she elaborated “Lizard, like a gecko. Orange with fire magic. If you had any doubt, I can squash it for you right now, because it’s the exact same magic signature for both of these murders.” 

“You sure? Undyne asked, “Wasn’t his own fire magic doing something crazy?” 

The thick scarf waggled as the shook her head, “Absolutely not. Can’t you feel it?”

Papyrus certainly could feel it. It was odd, familiar and calming. Breathing deeply, letting the magic in the air mingle with his own relaxed him completely. Why did such a disaster zone give off such a chilled-out vibe. 

The thought bothered him, enough that he had to ask. “Undyne, eh, how does this magic make you feel? He asked awkwardly, knowing it was an odd question.

He received a quizzical look from not just her. “Umm, nothin’ really. It’s just magic, right?” 

The bear, Arcas nodded, clearly not sharing his experience either. 

Scarfed Mouse tilted her head. “But you feel something? Yes?” 

“It’s quite calming. To me, anyway.” He replied, now feeling like he was distracting them from more important things. 

A sample carrier was grabbed from her bag. “Down here if you would.” She beckoned, to which he knelt in front of her, now closer to her height. “Conjure just a magical essence for me, not a physical construct.” 

All eyes in the room were now on him, clearly this mouse had some idea that no one else was aware of yet. Holding his hands in front of him, Papyrus gathered his magic to form a glow that hovered just above his palms. Transparent cyan blue, the colour of his soul. It curled and warped in place, ready to be put to use. 

The specialist squinted at the mass, scrutinising. His magic reflected his feeling of discomfort over what was transpiring from this situation. What looked like a special test tube swiped some of the essence, containing a small amount. She waved a hand for Papyrus to dismissed his magic. Curling, it invisibly sunk back into his bones. 

“You use a special type of magic, yes?” The mouse asked, taping a label to the tube. 

He shot a glance to Undyne who still looked curiously over from where she leaned against a blackened wall. Thankfully, the others seemed to have lost interest. “Blue, I’m very proficient in it.” Papyrus answered proudly, “I’ve heard that orange has been present in my family, though me nor my brother have never produced it.” He answered, feeling like this was a doctor’s examination. 

She hummed in response. “Then it is of exceeding likelihood that your killer also possesses the use of blue magic. You are, on some wavelength, similar. The sample will prove that. I might even be able to tell you exactly who the killer is, if I were to be given access to the lab, as I have requested.” A knowing look was sent to Undyne who looked confused before seeming to cotton on.

“I’ll talk to Dr Alphys.” The Captain said shortly. 

Scarf Mouse scampered off soon after, as much of her job done as she could for now. 

Finding his flip pad and pen conveniently in his pocket, Papyrus set about taking notes. The major difference between this scene and Ms Truffle’s was the angle of the blast. In the Snowdin house, one could stand at fixed point in the room from where the blast was fired. This was not so simple. The blast was outwards, as if it had come directly from the victim. The blast had moved outwards from the centre of the room, hitting all sides. If the attacker had been in the room at the time, surely, they would have been taken by the blast also. 

Taking photos with his phone camera and jotting notes he took stock of some of the random items not harmed beyond repair: A mirror with just a single scorch mark, a selection of quirky pens, a spinning contraption, a small amber stone, a pamphlet for an online dating page (Papyrus photographed the details for later use), a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie mug, a pair of gem encrusted glasses, a pocket watch which sang the time when opened and an odd container housing the pickled remains of an animal he had never seen before. 

The desk had somehow stood its ground, too heavy to be moved by a measly point-blank explosion. The centre piece of the room. A few of the individual draws had been opened and subsequently sustained serious blast damage. This included the insides of them. Had someone broken in to search for something? 

None of this made a bit of sense to him, though he could say he was getting a feel for what sort of monster Ignis was. 

“Papers, someone went through um.” Flyguy poked the top of his head over the sturdy desk, his eyes on stalks staring over at them. 

Research documents had been scattered and charred on the carpet from where they had spilled from a cabinet. 

“let’s look through some of those.” Said Undyne, receiving a stack of papers with varying degrees of damage. 

The bear’s fur glowed and twinkled in flashing light. Flyguy said, “Arcas says there are more documents in all these locked cabinets, too.” Pointing to a row of four matching tall sets of draws. The metal had hopefully protected whatever they hid. 

The locks were no match for Undyne, who forced each draw open with a protesting creak and snap.

The Captain, being the tallest reached into the high up, top draw of the next cabinet. She pulled out a printed piece of paper. “Hey guys, this might be useful.” She read the paper, “’Research compiled by Prof. Ignis, working under New Home University and Royal Scientist, Dr G-‘ urr, sorry, I… I can’t read that name. For purpose of study and teaching’. Then there’s a list of contents. Check the other tops for them too.” 

Papyrus reached above his head, feeling around, he sure enough found an identical copy at the top of each draw. 

Undyne continued to read while he looked for the papers. “These sound crazy! ‘Column two, draw one: Soul splicing- From taboo to the best method of sharing magical capabilities. Column two, draw three: Soul bonding for medical use- Helping or hurting? A case study. Column three, draw one: Magical crystals- Volatility and potential as power sources’. I could go on. This dude specialised in everything mildly science related, didn’t he?” She sounded quite fascinated. 

Arcas’s stars flashed in different patterns, pointing up at the first few draws. The smaller sickly green monster jumped into motion also. “Oh! An idea! Captain could read down list, we can tell what’s stolen!” His eye stalks jiggled with his movement. He smiled for the first time, toothy and malicious looking. If it wasn’t for the burst of excited magic form the monster, Papyrus would have been worried. 

“Lemme’ read down and you guys check. ‘Column one, draw two – Reproduction of insectoid monsters- Magic and biology.’ You got that?” Undyne asked.

Papyrus handed off the mass of papers to the two Guardsmen, ‘Column one’ had taken quite the brunt of the blast, the papers were gashed with scorch marks. He grabbed the next wad of papers. “’Dolphins: fact or fiction’. Do you have that?

She gave a nod. “Mm hmm. Next one down should start with ‘Alternate universes- The theory of dimensional travel.” 

That it did. This one signed by that mysterious name Papyrus couldn’t seem to read either, focusing on the hazy letters sent a jolt of pain through his skull which nearly made him drop the whole folder.

Beside him, Arcas slammed the file the two had been handed earlier, making Fly jump. It seemed he had gotten quite interested in the illustrations of ‘Reproduction of insectoid monsters- Magic and biology.’ The green monster’s strange smile twisted into a sheepish look. 

Next was ‘Artificial magic- Infusing human killing weapons into monster souls.’ Most of that was there, the parts specifically about the makeup of human souls had been roughly torn out. ‘The Core- Geothermal power for the next century’ had been nearly reduced to ash.

“’The Power of Determination- A limitless resource and its effect on time.’” Undyne read off from her perch on the desk. 

“That’s the one. Its missing.” The skeleton called, looking up to see her frown. 

“Really?” Her face set into a frown, now glaring down at the contents. “Articles in that one included: ‘Analyses of human souls, Determination and monsters, Timeline theory (with the word ‘theory’ crossed out in red marker), Theory to fact about the Reset, Conclusion- implications on history and the war including future developments for ways of detection, prevention and harnessing this power.’… Not exactly light reading, is it?” A strange look on her face, “I bet that kind of information isn’t exactly public knowledge.” 

By the utterly confused looks on everyone’s faces, she was most likely correct.

“Whistle-blower?” Asked Fly, two of his four stick thin arms coming to rest on his waist. 

Undyne shook her head, “Killing the guy just to take one file? Nah, doesn’t make sense.” 

She was right. Thanks to the lack of a proper filing system and the various odd papers in Ms Truffle’s house, it was difficult to tell whether anything had been taken. Assuming they had, what would this strange killer want with some finance papers and a case study on something to do with time? He couldn’t think of anything which didn’t sound downright ridiculous. 

Papyrus folded the contents page into his pocket for later reference. 

 

The tall skeleton strode back into Snowdin in the slowly dimming light of late afternoon. The ordeal in Hotlands had taken all day meaning whatever plans he had made for the Gyftmas holiday had been ruined. He’d gotten a present for his brother which he hoped he would unwrap with leftover party snacks in front of the TV, like they usually did. 

Speaking of Sans, Papyrus felt it necessary to apologise for snapping at him this morning. It was rather uncivilised of him, especially in the company of a friend. While he would not take back his words, he could have waited until Sans was in a position to answer back, which he was clearly could not have this morning. 

He already needed to inform Sans of today’s tragic events and maybe get him to take a look at that list. Afterall, in the days when he and his brother would talk more freely with each other, ideas of timelines and human souls were some of the stories he would bring back from the labs to chat about.   
With this in mind, maybe he should pick something up as a considerate gift to go with his Gyftmas present.

Yes, it was suddenly decided that he would make a detour before heading home. Flowers were what people got for occasions like these, were they not. 

Papyrus indeed found one of the small family run stores in Snowdin selling bunches of fresh flowers. He chose the biggest and brightest they had!

His spine was considerably achy now, thanks to the days demanding physical activity. His thoughts were roughly pulled away from the painful bruising he had recently sustained as he approached the house. His mailbox was considerably fuller than usual and it took him a minute to realise why. It was not his mail at all. Sans’ mailbox was overflowing to the point that the postman had started shoving his brother’s mail into Papyrus’s.   
With an exasperated sigh, Papyrus stormed into the house. 

 

_He remembers one of the ways the human left them._

_He remembers feeling the warmth of the sun for the first time, rising in yellow and oranges and pinks. He remembers endless fields and the smell of real fresh air, watching Undyne and Papyrus bound about the open space. He remembers the way Grillby’s magic resonates when Sans drags him out to look at the endless field of stars. He remembers Undyne jumping into the ocean and all of them laughing as she pulls Alphys in after her. He remembers them celebrating at Asgore’s house like a big family, feeling perfectly joyful. He remembers sharing a joke with the kid, who grins back at him. He holds nothing but respect for their tiny saviour, finding nothing but a determined curiosity within them. He remembers a beautiful evening, not even a month later when it all blinks out before his eyes to be replaced with dark cavern walls and the familiar crushing hopelessness they’re all far too used to._

“SANS”! 

His brother’s shout woke him. He’d ended up spending the day in bed, like most days off. The dream seemed to fit the conflict in his mind, yesterday was great, today was supposed to be a happy day which families spent together. Not minding at all that his brother had presumably decided to spend his time with Undyne, Sans thought he could have at least gone to see his friends over at Grillby’s.

His phone informed him it was late afternoon. A text from Alphys flashed up.  
‘Sry 4 last nite. Dnt realy remembr much. Hope I dnt say anythin mean. Xx.’ 

With a heavy sign, the skeleton heaved himself upright.

“Oh, hello, Sans! I thought you might have gone out.” Papyrus said as he descended the staircase. His brother was clutching a large bin bag in front of the sofa. “You may be wondering what this mess is, well wonder no longer!” He tilted the bag, it was full of papers. Sans frowned, wondering what was so special about a sack of papers. 

Papyrus seemed to deadpan at his oblivious brother. “Your mail.” He confirmed. “They were starting to shove it in my box. I think I dug them all out if the snow, since some of your letters were pretty well buried.” 

Sans made his way down, the sack of envelopes and papers was almost as tall as him. “Oh, thanks bro. I’ll do that letter, or something.” He replied dismissively, placing a folded paper bag beside Papyrus. “You think you’ve got time to finally open your present?” 

“Ah, thank you! I also have a Gyftmas present for you- BUT!” As Sans tried to walk away, Papyrus grasped the hood of his coat and pulled him back, “You can’t have it until you’ve sorted through all these!” He said, pointing at the bag in a way that made Sans think an attack was about to be thrown at it.

Sans looked like a child about to have a tantrum, having been told they couldn’t watch their cartoons. “What? Aww, but it’s my day off! Not just that, it’s an official holiday!” 

“Time waits for no one, Sans! Especially not all those ‘last chance’ bills I just pulled out of your letter box!” He said, hands on hips. 

“Its _official_ though! I’ll call Toriel, get her to confirm todays an official no work day!” Sans whined.

Papyrus scoffed, “The Queen?! You think shes had a day off today? I very much doubt that.” The tall skeleton strode into the kitchen before calling back, “Come on, it won’t take long. I saw some pretty important ones which may need your attention. Do that, then you can hear about my day.” The kettle clicked on, filling the room with a comforting hum.

Sans huffed in defeat and sat on the floor, pulling the bag with him. Papyrus had won this round. He was just being petty, he knew that, not really serious. His smile returned to its normal capacity when he considered that there might be a parallel universe out there somewhere in which he actually called Toriel to back up his argument. He couldn’t decide whether she would have found it humorous or not, that her Royal Judge was calling her for the sake of winning a childish argument with his brother. 

Some of the letters were too soggy to even be opened, seeming to melt on contact. A few bills were thrown into the ‘important’ pile, he had made. While everything else was thrown back into the binbag to be dumped. He got excited over some food shopping coupons before realising they were out of date by a few months. There were a few birthday cards from a long while ago which he didn’t bother opening. Most things he recognised from many timelines ago. 

From a mass of junk mail, he pulled a pristine cream coloured envelope, it carried decorations of lavender floral swirls, his name (no address) in a smooth cursive and was sealed with the royal emblem. There was a good chance Toriel herself had hand delivered this. Due to the secrecy of who in the kingdom held the position of Judge, he very rarely received correspondence. It suited him fine, it stopped Papyrus from asking too many questions. His brother, of course had no idea of the position he held, or that he was anyway associated with the Royal court. 

He removed the letter, which matched the envelope in style. 

_“Dear Sans,  
Due to recent events, I have been reviewing our laws and the way the Underground operates in every detail. I’m sure you are aware that I have had the Royal Guard under my watch as of recent. Myself and Captain Undyne have been working very closely together. _

_It has become obvious to me that (the words ‘that silly man’ had been roughly crossed out) King Asgore had assigned people to posts and left them too it, in many cases totally unsupervised. This has resulted in old, stale laws which are rather useless now, to monsters neglecting their duties altogether._

_In light of this, I have been working closely with my court, The Guard, Royal Scientist and the population in general to address these problems._  
As you may have gathered from this, the position of Royal Judge will also be under review. I will be holding an assessment at the time and date below, which I would like you to attend. I’m sure everyone in the Underground would rest easier knowing their Judge was one of skill and integrity.  
As this will be an official visit, I ask you wear the customary dress of your position. 

_If this time is inconvenient, please organise whatever you are doing in your personal life to accommodate it._

_Your friend always,  
Queen Toriel _

_P.s: What do you call a bee having a bad hair day?  
A Frisbee!”_

An assessment? What kind of assessment would that be? Sans’ magic bubbled with a nervous energy. He was fairly certain this would be a little more than a chat over tea and biscuits.

The date displayed wasn’t for a couple of weeks, at least. He would have to dig out the stupid official costume he was supposed to wear. Hidden somewhere in the house, Sans had never bothered to even wear it more than once. The skeleton folded the paper and slid it into his pocket before throwing the rest of the letters into the rubbish pile and calling his job done.


	11. The things we fight for

“Oh, are you done?” Papyrus stepped around the kitchen wall with two steaming mugs of coffee as Sans tied up the rubbish bag full of his old mail. “See, I told you it wouldn’t take long.” He grinned, taking a seat on the sofa. 

“Yeah, you were right, it was pretty easy to stamp out after all.” Sans said, crumpling up his bills and stuffing them into his hoody pocket alongside Toriel’s letter.

Papyrus patted the seat next to him, “Now, as promised, I will tell you the tale of my exciting day!” He said in an upbeat shout before seemingly correcting himself and continuing on a quieter, more calming voice, “I don’t bring the greatest of news, so you might want to sit down.” 

Sans stilled, locking eyes with his brother. As his nervousness built, he bit the bullet and climbed onto the sofa. “Go on.” 

Papyrus gave a dramatic retelling of Undyne’s phone call, how they had dashed all the way to Hotlands and been introduced to the large ox monster who commanded the area’s Guardsman. “There has been another murder, just like Ms Truffle’s.” He said, magic shivering with concern. Sans looked at him expectant, willing him wordlessly to continue. 

“The victim this time was, and I’m sorry to say, Professor Ignis.” Papyrus finished, seemingly expecting a strong reaction. 

Sans tilted his head, “The Uni science teacher? Macaroni guy? Seriously?” He was more confused than anything. 

Nodding, Papyrus spoke with great sadness, for someone who had never, to his knowledge met the victim. “Yes, Macaroni guy indeed.” He lowered his head sadly. Sans was reminded of Flowey’s funeral and vaguely wondered whether Papyrus had printed out more inspiring Undernet quotes to read off. 

“So, how’d he die?” The puzzled skeleton asked.

“An explosion, just like in Snowdin. But instead of it being like…” He pointed his arms forwards to imitate an aimed blast. “It was more from the middle of the room outwards. It was loud too, many people arrived quickly.” He flung his arms outwards, nearly knocking Sans’ drink from his hands.  
“Early this morning, it happened, about 6:30”. Seemingly coming to the conclusion that Sans wasn’t too choked up by this, he reached into his pocket for his phone. “Here, I’ll show you the video I took.” 

Sans was slightly confused when Papyrus’s phone played a video of a puppy, “Oh, my mistake, I may have been indulging in adorable animal videos on the way home.” He turned the screen so Sans could see the cute dog sneezing, toppling back and landing on its butt. 

“Aww.” Sans murmured. It was indeed very sweet. 

The moment was ruined when the video ended and Papyrus switched the player to display the grisly crime scene. 

Watching the recording was much easier than having his brother explain. Sans’ soul jumped slightly at the destruction. Had this seriously happened to the old oddball Ignis? Who would have beef with him? The six limbed salamander was overall, a nice guy. Thought he was slightly strange in his mannerisms and very serious about his chosen subject, the monster was generally friendly. Sans had spent more than enough time being taught by or working alongside Ignis. Despite that, the pair had not spoken since Sans’ departure from the labs all those years ago. 

Papyrus had done a surprisingly good job of cataloguing the scene, from the break in of the front door to the centrepiece desk’s draws to the strange articles had had found littering the place. There appeared some instruments which Sans recognised while most he did not.

“And the Magic Science Specialist, the mousey lady with the long scarf? She’s certain that it was the same culprit both times. What is more interesting is she said to expect our murderer to possess blue magic, like us!” 

“W-what?” He was more shocked by this than anything else. 

Papyrus recited to him the entire conversation he’d had with Scarfed Mouse. Sans grew more and more uneasy.

The other skeleton continued, “What I really need your help with though, is this.” He said, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “Professor Ignis had some pretty hardcore science papers in his filing cabinets. One whole folder and bits of one or two others were taken, I circled what was stolen.” The unfolded paper was handed to Sans.

His eyes flicked across the page. Papyrus was right, there were some pretty intense specialist subjects in here as well as some potentially classified information. The skeleton wouldn’t have been surprised to find his own signature on some of the research papers in this collection. Like Alphys, Ignis had always had a knack for all areas of science. One of the reasons he made such a good teacher. 

He squinted at the tiny lettering inside the circle of red marker. His contemplation of whether he needed reading glasses was cut short when he read it. ’The Power of Determination- A limitless resource and its effect on time.’

Sans felt his soul still in his chest as he read the words. ‘Human souls… Resets… Determination.” 

“Umm, mean anything to you, Sans?” Papyrus shifted apprehensively on the sofa, no doubt sensing the other’s disturbance. 

Only flicking his eyes from the paper for a second, Sans choked, “Ur, no. I thought I did but I guess not.” He re-read the words once more. “Say, bro. You have enough to think about with this case, I know science was never really your thing; why don’t I hang on to this and look into it? Ask Alphys about it or something? This is more her _scale._ ” This topic was something Sans never ever wanted his brother involved with. He was perfectly content with shouldering that burden alone if it meant sparing Papyrus from the truth of violent anomalies, horrific failed experiments and looping timelines.

“You wouldn’t mind doing that?” Asked Papyrus, seemingly taken aback that Sans was offering to do something. “A-are you sure?” 

“Yeah of course, bro. Tibia honest, it could be fun.” He replied, paying only a small amount of attention to his surrounding situation. 

Papyrus left him to quietly sit there for some time before coughing quietly, “Umm, are you alright Sans, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

The accusation made Sans’ magic shiver with anxiety more than it should have. “Y-yeah, fine. I think the Prof’s death finally gotten under my skin, you know?” He lied.

It was clear from the glance he shot the other’s way that Papyrus was sceptical. He regarded Sans with a calculated stare of his own. Sans braced for more interrogation but none came. Instead Papyrus sighed. “Yes, indeed, that is only natural.” He stood from the chair and walked to the kitchen. “I imagined you would be. So, to say sorry for your loss as well as to apologise for this morning, I got you these.” With a rustle, Papyrus jumped around the corner. He held up a wrapped bunch of bright yellow sunflowers. Instantly, Sans’ magic curled in a powerful sick feeling. “Platonic friendship flowers!” Papyrus cheered.   
“They reminded me of our dear friend, Flowey. May his soul be at peace.” He added quietly at the end. 

More like ‘may his soul be in pieces’. Oh wait, he didn’t have one in the first place, did he. Even better. 

The flowers were popped into a vase and displayed with pride, beside the Tv. Large and yellow and staring over at Sans where he sat on the sofa.  
“Oh geez, that’s real sweet of you, bro. Really rooted out the sad feelings with that.” Did that work? He didn’t care whether it worked, Papyrus seemed happy. 

“Of course, Sans, anything to make you feel better!” Papyrus said, dropping the forced sad voice immediately. 

CRUNCH! Something soft and papery was thrown against Sans’ head.

“Surprise! You can open your present now!” Oh yeah, he had forgotten with all the excitement that it was still Gyftmas. The bright red shiny paper was beautifully wrapped. It almost seemed a shame to spoil. Like a work of art itself, Sans wondered how long this alone had taken to create, wrapped in a delicate ribbon which curled at the ends. A small glimmer of light burned in his soul, that someone would put this much effort into something for silly old him. 

He laughed, in spite of himself. Apparently, this afternoon had been exciting enough that Sans was getting choked up from the sight of wrapping paper. In return, collecting the creased, folded paper bag from where it sat on the floor, Sans threw the package to Papyrus. “Merry Gyftmas.”

Opening the red shiny package revealed a soft black and white material. It unfolded into a snug, all-in-one outfit with sewn in fluffy boots. It had a hood too, for escaping, in the shape of a cow’s face with a big pink nose, cute eyes and little horns. It was love at first sight. 

His brother gasped, “New gloves! Oh, you shouldn’t have!” Excitedly, he waved the red and white gloves, little bone patterns on the backs of the hands, partly knitted partly sewn with tougher material. 

“Haha, no problem bro. Hey, Papyrus, is this a onesie? Can I sleep in this?” He asked, a devilish grin growing on his face.

“Well, yes, I believe so. It should be the right size, it’s a children’s fit.” 

“Sweet, then I’m never taking it off.” He said, finally finding a way to not be criticised for wearing his clothes to bed. 

Papyrus swept in for a hug but deceived Sans as he used the opportunity to pull off his hoody in one impossible hand movement, Sans gasped in surprise. “W-what?!”

“I take every opportunity I can!” He said, throwing the old thing in the wash.

“Fine.” Sans conceded, “But I get to check your bandages before you put your new gloves on. And your spine, I don’t want that getting any worse.” Papyrus huffed, scrunching up the paper bag and throwing back playfully in protest. 

 

They spent the evening watching awful television. Sans huddled up in his cow suit, the late Gyftmas excitement only a brief distraction to his growing worry about the latest turn of events. The sunflowers were not helping. Throwing the odd glare their way, he half expected the things to grin maniacally back with beady black eyes and a jagged smile. 

Checking the time, it wasn’t long until Grillby’s would close. 

Sans gave a loud yawn. “Well, I’m off to bed, I’ll seeya in the mornin’.” 

Papyrus gasped at the time, “Golly, it is late! I am in need of my beauty sleep!” 

They said their goodnights, thanked each other again for their gifts and of course, the… ‘lovely’ flowers. The second Sans closed the door to his room, he took a shortcut outside his favourite bar.

 

‘Nice… coat?’ The fire elemental lazily commented.

Sans rolled his eyes, “Umm, actually, it’s called a onesie. They’re pretty fashionable, you know.” He said in mock aggression.

‘If that is what you say.’ Replied Grillby, the odd red spark shooting from his head.

“Actually, it’s called a ‘Snuggle blanket with built in booties’.” Dogamy called from a nearby table, finishing his drink before being inevitably kicked out. “Label is still on.” The dog pointed to his back.

Sans laughed, “How the hell did you see that? I thought the dogs around here couldn’t even catch a frisbee with their eyesight.” 

“True!” He mused, “I know because I got Ressa one with pig on it.” He lifted his glass but paused halfway, “By the way, myself and others have noticed that the whole of Snowdin is covered in sick today, which strongly resembles the food served from the ‘Pick n’ Mix Pasta’ stand.” He rose an eyebrow.

“Oh, well. Guess the noodles must have been pasta their best!” Sans joked. “Just, urr, please don’t tell Papyrus.” He coughed. 

The dog snorted, “Sure, long as he helps with the clean-up.”

As the last of the patrons dispersed, Dogamy, Greater Dog and Pink Bird made their way out into the cold. Apparently acknowledging that Sans wasn’t being kicked out, the bright feathered monster called back, “Have fun you two.” The bird called back with a wink and little wave.

Ignoring her as their group left, Grillby gave a questioning look to Sans who returned a sigh, “I need to talk ‘bout something, if that’s ok.” 

Grillby nodded, locking the front door, turning off the lights so they were lit by only candles. The elemental’s shoulders relaxed, he looked much more tired than usual, his flames a fractionally darker orange. 

“How was Gyftmas?” Sans asked, voice quiet to not disturb the peace the other was clearly trying to find.

‘Tiring.’ Grillby said, ‘I didn’t close until nearly four this morning.’

“Wow, someone was popular.” Sans commented, picking up a spare cloth and helping to wipe down the tables. 

‘It seems to catch me unaware every year. I will consider hiring a helper for the night next year.’ 

Sans shrugged, “Maybe I could give you a hand.” 

Grillby merely glanced in his direction, giving nothing of an emotional response. ‘You would not mind?’

“Sure. You get see the family at all?” He asked with slight hesitancy.

At this, the odd spark flew from his fire, ‘No, they do not trouble with me or the snow.’ He said in a controlled calm, though Sans could bet if he stood closer, he’d be able to feel the other’s magic flicker with dislike.   
‘If you don’t mind me closing, we could sit upstairs?’ He asked.

Sans nodded and slipped off his stool. 

With a wave of his hand, the torches of flame lining the walls flew back to the elemental, the monster held open the door into the kitchen as they walked to Grillby’s residence. 

The space was cosy and well lived in. Comprised of dark wood and warm colours, the small living area gave a distinctly homemade vibe; compared to most houses and their odd mix-and-match furniture. It sat mostly as a single open plan room with only one window and one wall partly hiding the corner of a bed. Tidy and organised but equally well lived in, the residence was always welcoming, lit in the warm glow of orange light. It gave away the elemental’s age with the well-constructed floorplan and extensive book and movie collection the local library would have loved to get their hands on. 

Once they settled down on two single armchairs around a large open fire, Sans pulled the folded list of science papers from his pocket. “That’s what was taken.” He said, having relayed all of what Papyrus had said about the latest crime scene. “Can’t very well ‘sweep this one under the rug’, now can we. What the hell do I do?” He said, giving Grillby time to read through it and digest the details of what Papyrus had said. 

The elemental looked up from the paper, ‘The Determination substance is the key to all this, is it not?’ Sans nodded. ‘Who has access to that and is it kept safe?’ Grillby asked, as if he was asking about the weather.

“Alphys. That’s it really. It’s kept a total secret, I mean, I know where it is… for reasons. But it’s so well guarded, I doubt I could even get into it, and Alphys trusts me.” He said, slightly exasperated. 

‘And is Alphys likely to have done this?’ The flame monster asked. 

Sans laughed humourlessly, “No, of course not. I expect she has everything on that list memorised in that big brain of hers.” He gestured to the contents list. “Wouldn’t need to steal anything.”

Grillby nodded once, ‘Then you have nothing to fear. One can learn as much of this theory as they like, but they can go no further if they lack the means to carry out the task.’ The cogs turned in the skeleton’s head until he nodded in agreement, finding no flaw to this. ‘And if they did manage it, from what you’ve said previously, it seems like only a special kind of monster can adapt to Determination.’ 

Sans had also not considered this, Grillby brought up an excellent point. “True. Only known one or two to pull it off. Hell knows I couldn’t.” He shivered at the thought of his body melting, wanting to die but having an unknown force stop it, perpetually stuck in a limbo between life and death. 

‘Then the only thing you can do is talk to Alphys and help your brother. If you are worried then assist him in solving this.’ It was said with slightly more emphasis than he usually put into his words. Sans stared into the fireplace. 

They swapped folded pieces of paper, Grillby received the letter from Toriel. He read it quickly before re-reading it. ‘Are you worried about this, too?’

“More than I probably should be.” Sans admitted. When Grillby didn’t reply, he continued, “I trust Tori, shes great. But, shes the biggest pacifist I know and I don’t think she’s really into the whole execution part of the Judge’s job. And -I won’t lie-, after everything that’s happened, I’m not the most squeamish person anymore.” He said, unbuttoning the cow suit under the warmth of the fire. “If she thinks I’m too comfortable with it then I’m likely to be replaced or worse.”

Grillby folded the paper delicately and rested it on the arm of his chair, ‘Are you referring to your higher than normal stats?’ He asked.

Shifting his eyes back to the fireplace, Sans sniffed in mild discomfort, “You, err, know about that one then?”

‘You’ve mentioned it twice in the last few weeks. I don’t imagine you’ll remember.’ He stated, folding his hands neatly in his lap.

Sans followed their movement before shaking his head. He must have been pretty messed up, though that wasn’t horribly uncommon. He remembered a glimpse of his brother walking him home, much angrier with Sans than he allowed himself to show.

“Yeah… Either way. My Lv is pretty high, never mind ExP… I mean, I guess that’s what happens when things repeat enough. You get angrier, start wanting them dead, forget about any ideals like justice.” He met the faint outline of Grillby’s eyes, where they sat within his flame. “It’s an odd type of rage.”

‘If you’d like advice on that front, then I would ask to see your soul.’ He hummed.

Sans shook his head, averting his gaze once again. Grillby nodded, seemingly unsurprised. 

“Sorry, Grillbz, you could say you’re one of my _sole_ friends, I don’t wanna scare you away.” He said, suddenly feeling more tired than he had all day. 

Sans jumped when the elemental’s flames popped and fizzed. He lent forward with a guttural growl, not projected to Sans’ mind but rather spoken aloud, which could roughly be identified as a laugh. The change from the unwavering calm was a shock. Only once previously had he heard the elemental speak aloud, it had been rather unnerving, whoever it had been aimed had scampered away with little persuasion. Sans watched him, wide eyed, not knowing quite how to react to the display. 

Grillby held up a hand, slow and tired, ‘If you could do anything to scare me away, it would have happened long ago.’ 

Sans could only give an awkward laugh. 

‘Apologies for that outburst.’ He said, settling back, fully composed once more. ‘Worry not, Sans, I doubt the Queen will be deluded by her personal feelings. The Judge is an important part of our culture, the chance of her removing you from your post is slim.’ 

“Not sure who I’d be replaced with honestly. It’s not like we know of anyone else right now who can see souls. Its sorta my responsibility to organise all that anyway. That’s how I got into it after all; someone in the labs noticed a shared trait and trained me.” The figure from his memories was tall, distorted and hazy as if seen through fog. It made his head hurt. 

‘All the more reason to not fret.’ His friend said, flames curling slowly. 

What he said was true. Sans trusted Toriel more than he did most monsters. He sighed, a more contented smile crawling up his features. “Yeah, ya’ right. Thanks, Grillbz.” 

They sat in a comfortable silence for some time longer, staring into the fire. Grillby could probably tell there was more Sans wanted to say, though the pleasant atmosphere was too peaceful to break, so Sans sat quietly, sipping his drink.   
Eventually, the elemental rose to his feet, ‘As much as I’d enjoy sharing your company for longer, I must sleep. You are welcome to the couch.’ 

“Thanks, Grillbz.” Sans reached into his pocket for his phone. His intention of checking the time was interrupted by one unread message filling the screen. From ‘No.1 Bro’ and received a short while after he snuck out. 

His heart sank.  
It read: ‘Sans did you leave? Remebred to ask you somthing, looked all round house and you were not there. Please tel me next time, I worry.’   
Staying at Grillby’s suddenly seemed much more appealing. 

 

The following morning, saw the light from the capital blink to life in a lemon-yellow shine. Reflecting on the snow of the quiet little town at the other end of the cavern. One monster rose before all others, ready for the day.

Papyrus hummed to himself as he made his way through his morning routine. A commotion outside shook him from his practiced movements and made him frown. Who on earth was making such a racket right outside his door, and at this time of the morning at that?! It was unusual for people to start making their way around town this early.

The loud ‘tap tap tap’ on his door almost did not come as a surprise with the loud rumbling voices which had approached. His oversized bunny slippers squeaked across the floor towards the front door. Still in pyjamas, not long after waking, the skeleton intended on reminding these visitors of the definition of noise pollution and common curtesy. 

Papyrus threw open the door only to stumble back at the sight of the last monster he expected. 

“Oh, you are awake, how splendid! Good morning, darling.” 

“M-Mettaton?!” Papyrus gasped. 

The robot stood tall in his human-like form, about the same height as the skeleton. Papyrus had only ever seen this version of the superstar behind the television screen. His eyes were piercing and the flick of hair hiding half of his face added a feeling of mystery and drama. He was absolutely gorgeous. 

Mettaton waved his arms in a flourish, “Of course, it is I! You are,” He checked a note squiggled on his metal wrist. “Paprika?” 

“It’s Papyrus, actually. Um. I’m a really big fan of your show, I’ve seen you live a few times too.” He grinned, shuffling his feet nervously. Suddenly very conscious of his much too small nightshirt and huge comedy slippers. 

“Ah, yes, I thought I recognised you! Always recognise a superfan.” Mettaton said in his smooth drawl. 

Papyrus finally noticed the microphone in the robot’s hand and upon tearing his eyes away from the celebrity, spotted his camera man alongside another monster carrying heavy equipment. Unsure what to say, the skeleton gestured into his house, “You want some tea, or…?” 

Mettaton flipped his hair, “Ah, thank you for that kind offer, but I must decline. I’m sure you appreciate how quickly news can develop and I must get back to my studio in time for the late morning broadcast.”

“Oh, yes of course. A-anything at all I could help you with?” Papyrus stammered in reply, trying not to seem as overwhelmed as he felt. 

What seemed like a sly smile spread across Mettaton’s face, “Yes, darling, there certainly is. I was hoping for an interview. You see, I just heard about the terrible tragedy which befell both the poor residents of Hotlands and Snowdin.” He said in mock sadness. 

“Oh. Yes, it has certainly been an awful occurrence.” Papyrus agreed.

“And am I to be correct in thinking that it is you who has taken it graciously upon themselves to solve this mystery?” The fluttering nervous feeling inside Papyrus’s chest warped to something more confident. Mettaton had heard about him! 

Papyrus stopped clinging to the door and stood up straighter, puffing his chest out with pride. “Yes, indeed, it is I, The Great Papyrus, leader of the Snowdin Sentries! After the vile murder of Ms Truffle, I simply could not rest until the culprit had been found and made it my personal objective to solve this terrible crime.” He said with passion.

This delivery seemed to strike a chord with the robot, who blinked in surprise at the other’s change of character. Mettaton’s smile grew wider. “I see, have you made any developments with the case so far?”

Papyrus thought hard, no was the short answer but that would simply not do. “Indeed, over the last several weeks since the first incident we have carried out many interviews, and are now working closely with the Hotlands Guards as well as the science community. I myself have been narrowing down a list of many subjects of interest.” His confidence increasing, he was being interviewed by Mettaton! This was the best day ever! 

The robot’s face twitched with a frown. Though it only lasted a second, Papyrus did not miss it. “Several weeks you say? I was under the impression that this event only occurred a night ago.” He asked.

“Not exactly.” Papyrus corrected, “Nearly a month ago we had the tragedy of Ms Truffle, here in Snowdin. Which I agreed to solve. On the morning following Gyftmas, Professor Ignis was killed by clearly the same culprit. That is why I still remain in charge of the case, rather than the Hotland Guard.” 

“I see, I was under the impression both incidents happened on the same night.” Mettaton shot a glance at the monster carrying the various bits of equipment. He cringed and returned the star with an apologetic grin. “A month’s difference How could we miss that one, I wonder?”.” Mettaton spoke slowly for emphasis. The cameraman also grinned in the direction of their friend, who was clearly the one to mix this information up. 

Seeing the need for a save, Papyrus jumped in, “Well with all of the news stories needing to be reported on a daily basis, it is no wonder things get, um, glanced over every so often.” 

Mettaton grinned at him and gave a little twirl on the spot, which the skeleton thought was fairly unnecessary but, well, this was Mettaton. “An excellent point, darling! Now that we have the timeline of these vile crimes, please tell us of what you know of the killer.” He said, putting emphasis on every other word. 

Papyrus was happy to continue, his feeling of pride only continuing to grow. He would be on the news! Mettaton was asking for his knowledge and expertise! This was the biggest moment of his life! If this didn’t make people notice him then surely nothing else would. 

“We expect to be looking for someone with powerful explody magic. Most likely of the blue variety.”

“I see, the Hotland Guard have had me unable to film, so could you describe the crime scenes for me?” He sounded rather bitter and seemed to be containing some level of sarcasm. 

Not stopping to consider why exactly the Hotland Guard had not wanted the celebrity filming around Ignis’, the skeleton continued, “W-well, if you like, we can go to see the one in Snowdin? Its, well, only about two doors down.” Papyrus gestured in the direction of Ms Truffle’s house.

Mettaton turned to the camera man, they seemed to engage in some sort of silent communication, checking the time and nodding. The robot turned back to Papyrus, who pulled at the edge of his night shirt where it exposed his lowest pair of ribs. 

“That would be splendid! Shall we?” Mettaton said, ready to leave immediately. 

Glancing down at the bunny slippers he hadn’t wanted to get wet, Papyrus grimaced and hopped down into the fresh crunching snow. Fame waited for no one, sacrifices must be made! The cute slippers with their little pink noses would be honoured when he rose to stardom. 

Papyrus tossed the door closed and led the way with a spring in his step. Mettaton strode alongside him, easily keeping up pace with his long legs. His hot pink boots florescent in the snow. The two monsters behind, hurried to keep up as they carried the equipment. They chatted to each other, clearly not filming during this scene change. 

“You been on TV before, Papyrus?” Mettaton asked.

Not expecting to be spoken to so casually, Papyrus jumped, “No, never.” He said shortly.

The robot flashed him a cool smile, half his face hidden behind hair, “You’d be good at it, you have flare, people like that.”

He had no idea what to say to that, well, there were many things that came to mind but none worked. Being complimented by his idol in such a way threw him. 

“Wowie!” Papyrus gave him a cheesy grin. Mettaton returned it with a sincerer smile than he ever used on television. The skeleton’s magic was doing all sorts of flips inside his chest.

They trudged through the grey morning air, past a snow-covered bench to approach to charred remains of the dainty house. 

The camera was rolling again. Mettaton gave an over-the-top gasp, hiding his face from the sight. Papyrus thought it odd, he made a mental note that the robot had not reacted to the destruction, upon initially seeing it. 

They did a loop of the house, inside the barrier set around it. Mettaton commentating on the varying degrees of damage to the little place. By now, part of the unsupported roof had crumbled inwards, weighed down by the snowfall. Papyrus simply followed, answering any questions thrown his way. The old monster who had lived there, possible motivations of the killer, pretty standard questions. 

“Would it be possible to go inside- maybe a step by step of the events which led to the poor thing’s death?” Mettaton asked, fluttering the lashes of his one visible eye. 

“Why certainly!” Papyrus said as he led the way to the front door. The old wooden piece was held closed by a flowerpot on the doorstep, filled with soil but holding no plant. The skeleton pulled the doorstop aside and with a creek, the old door began to swing open. It was dark in the hallway, light filtering in further down into the living room where the walls had been blown from the house. 

Pointing to where the wood had splintered around the lock, he explained, “If you look here, the miscreant forced their way inside by breaking the lock- see how it is hanging off on the other side of the door?” The camera pushed forward, capturing the details of the explanation. “A sharp object or magic construct has been jammed into it.”

“Oh my!” Mettaton said, the camera panning across to where he observed. “You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen, this monster did not want to let a madman into their house!” 

Papyrus held the door open, politely allowing Mettaton and his staff into the house. 

Taking a step inside, the robot star continued his commentary, “As you can see, we’re in the hallway, you can tell this house was made to accommodate monsters of the smaller variety, I need to duck down to not hit my-.” **SNAP!** “Ahh!” 

Mettaton screamed, the monster carrying an armful of lighting equipment swore, flinching back and dropping most of his load. He knocked into the camera man, who also swore, just about staying upright, managing to keep his camera focused. Papyrus shot around the doorway and flicked on the hallway light. It buzzed reluctantly to life illuminating the shine of metal in a dull orange, but not of any part belonging to Mettaton.

“WHAT IT THAT!?” The robot yelled as the skeleton dove forwards. 

“Um, well, it’s a bear trap.” Papyrus said, bending down to see the large metal object’s teeth biting into the metal of the star’s leg, with a force enough to dent the metal inwards. 

“W-WHY IS THERE A BEAR TRAP?!” He shrieked back. 

Papyrus was unsure whether Mettaton could actually feel pain from this. Papyrus speculated his hysterics came from something marking his beautiful body. “Well, one of my colleagues gave me the idea. You see, many murderers are likely to return to the place of their kill in the days afterwards. I set this up as a cunning trap to catch them if they dared return.” He said quite confidently despite the uncertain feeling that more tact may be necessary. “Now hold still while I get this off.” 

The lighting assistant hopped forward to steady Mettaton as the skeleton examined the large, well-built trap. He tried to pry it open but it was jammed closed. Summoning a bone attack and after several well aimed slams into the joints of the trap, it sprang open. 

Mettaton pulled his leg away the second it was free, jumping back quick enough that he didn’t account for the aforementioned low ceiling, smacking his head with a clang! 

“Well, I think we’ll leave this exclusive here for now. Thank you for the tour, Papyrus dear.” He said sourly, already making his way to the door.   
“Oh, oh dear I’m so sorry! My traps, they can sometimes…” He said, watching from the front step of the building as the camera man followed Mettaton as the robot wobble as he stepped over the low barrier guarding the house. There wasn’t a huge amount of damage done to Mettaton’s leg, though somehow, Papyrus guessed that that wasn’t really the point. 

The skeleton, feeling rather lost noticed the camera had finally been put down, had they been filming that whole fiasco? Surely not! He gave a half-hearted wave as the celebrity and his crew left. The camera guy noticed the goodbye and flicked his tail in a waving motion, amusement barely contained on his face.

“Look, at that dent! Look at it!” The robot angrily said, as they hurried away. “You, call Alphys, I don’t care what she’s doing, I need this fixed today. No, it’s a live quiz tonight and I always use this body for my quizzes, to change that now would break the continuity of the plot we’ve worked to set up!” 

Sighing, Papyrus closed the door and pushed the stopper back into place. His one chance on screen with his favourite television star. Wasted. The magic which had danced so excitedly around him was now seemingly sat in the snow with his damp slippers. Slowly, he trudged back towards home, leaving a broken bit of bear trap sticking out of the vacant flowerpot. That had annoyingly been a very good trap, Papyrus would need to find a replacement. 

 

A/n- A new chapter already?! What on earth is happeneing?!   
I'll be on holiday on tuesday, so you get two this week and none next week. Simples.   
Much love,- Zazzy


	12. Chemistry

The fake sun glowed and dimmed the way it always did and nearly a week passed in the caverns under Mt Ebot. Today was Sans’ day off and he was looking forward to what he had planned, which for once didn’t include sci-fi movie binges and excessive naps- though the naps were not completely ruled out. Today was lab day with Alphys. 

“And he said ‘you’re however old and still live with your brother?’ and I said ‘well who’s brother am I supposed to live with?!’” 

Alphys snorted with laughter, “Well if Papyrus ever g-gets too fed up of your jokes n’ kicks you out, you can come live with me.” 

Sans bumped her arm in response, “Hah! Thanks, Alph, might take you up on that, most of the rooms downstairs are way bigger than mine at home. Imagine how much space I’d have for my sock collection.” He mused, staring wide in wonder. 

Alphys checked the contents of a packet of files before inserting the papers into a shredder, “I t-think you did that already, remember your office? I recall them threatening t-to fire you over the state of it.” She giggled, glasses glinting under the harsh electric light. 

Sans shrugged, “Pretty sure my office was bigger than the room me and my bro were living in at that point. It was their fault, giving me a room here. They should have expected it to become an extension of my house.” He tore some staples from the corner of an old booklet, yellowed and damp before feeding it into the shredder. “Hey remember that prank that went wrong, when I spilled that crap all over the floor? I bet it still stinks in there.”

She nodded rapidly, “Uh huh, that I can confirm.” The scientist gave him a playfully angry glare, “I keep that whole corridor o-of old offices locked usually.” 

“Oh, I bet. I smelled like one of those red slug monsters for weeks. The bigger yellow ones with all of the eyes suddenly got _way_ too interested in me. Probably wanted to eat me, or worse.” He laughed, fishing a chocolate from the bowl sat between them on the floor, along with stacks of documents of varying ages and subjects.

The lizard snorted, pressing a hand to her nose and nearly knocking her glasses off. “That reminds me of an anime.” 

“Most things do.” He shuffled a few more papers into a large folder, “One more down, only a skele- _ton_ more left.” 

“Well, you’re working f-faster than I am, I get a headache e-every time I try to read these.” 

Sans pulled another pile of random miss matched files from the shelf above them and settled back onto the floor. “You get that too, huh?” A portable radio above them played an upbeat tune through scratchy speakers. “Here’s an idea for ya’: A scanning machine that pulls papers through and orders them into categories, or by page numbers even if they’re muddled.”

“That’s a good suggestion a-actually. It might even be quicker to make the machine from scratch than sort these all by hand. If the Queen isn’t happy with t-this, I’ll quit my job. Maybe I can retire and start an anime studio. Maybe I’ll make a crowd-funded attempt to get to the surface. T-the spiders have started doing that, have you heard?” She said, squeaking as she caught her scales in the closing of a ring binder.

“I have, and I heard they’re actually doing pretty well from it. Dunno about you but I spy-der a new idea if we lose our jobs at some point.” Sans said with a wink.

Alphys nodded, suddenly looking flustered, “I have a review with the Queen in a few days. I g-gotta get a presentation together of w-what I’ve been doing since I… Since I became Royal S-scientist. At least I’m g-going to hers, rather than the alternative.”

Sans winced, “Ooh, that’s a big one. Really though, Tori is fine, I’m sure you’ll get on well together.” He reassured, “Hey, I’ll talk to you after it’s over, what day is it?”

“Wednesday, thanks, Sans.” She nervously. 

“Does Undyne know?” He probed.

Alphys nodded, wringing her hands together. “She’s going that day, too.” A reluctant smile tugged at her lips. 

How interesting, the same day as his review. Sounds like there’d be a party at the castle! At least it wasn’t just him getting assessed, the idea of not being alone in his worry was calming. Sans wished he could ask Alphys to swap her timeslot with him, he was meeting Toriel early enough that he must be having the first assessment. He knew he couldn’t ask any more about it without it sounding like he was fishing for information. She had given him enough to work with. Overall, Sans was thankful he wasn’t the only one under the microscope. Heh. 

His attention was caught by a scraping noise between them. Looking down saw a long thin arm pawing at the bowl of snacks. Pale and sticky looking the oddly shaped paw dragged the bowl a few centimetres before stopping and continuing, repeating the motion. Sans watched it, staying still, certainly not looking over his shoulder to where something unknown loomed. 

Alphys finally looked up from her work and with a tut, swiped away the strange elongated paw. It flashed out of sight in a blindingly quick movement, like elastic snapping and the sound of something large scampering back. Away through the door behind them and down the corridor away from the small storage room. 

“Sorry.” The scientist muttered, “They like their food.” Pulling the bowl back into view.

Sans shrugged. “S’ok, they don’t bother me.” He said, the statement mostly true. While aware of the predicament which led to the creation of these monsters and that that kept Alphys hiding them, Sans had only had limited interactions with these odd creatures. Understanding their situation of course, did not equate to any sort of trust. 

“I told them you w-were coming today, so they better be on their best behaviour. And you are, well j-just about the only guest we have down here, so they might b-be pretty excited.” Alphys stuttered. 

“That’s cool, I imagine it gets a bit _bonely_ down here.” Sans said, turning to look back at the doorway. The electric lights of the corridor projected the shadowy silhouette of something large standing just beyond the door, onto the wall inside the old musty storage room. It made him shiver. More the fact that something so seemingly large could sneak about in total silence if it wanted. 

At his words, the smile slipped from her face and Alphys solemnly returned to shredding papers. They sat quietly for a while longer. The monotony of paperwork had always been one thing Sans despised most in life and before long, he was searching for something to keep him from boredom.   
“So,” Sans continued, changing the subject, “Aside from what the Queen wants, how are you doing?”

The lizard cocked her head in thought, “Ok, I guess. Just stressed… I’m kinda w-worried about the changes the Queen is gonna make. It’s n-not if, it’s when. I know I’m doing a t-terrible job but I-… I don’t know.” She said, shoulders slumping. 

He gave her a sincere smile, “But how are _you_ doing?”

Alphys stopped in thought again, looking down at the paper in front of her, mottled with damp patches. “Tired.” She admitted eventually, “Since Gyftmas I’ve just been r-really, you know? It’d be fine b-but it stops me from working. I felt like I’ve been on a roll recently, it’s been great. B-but the last week though, I haven’t worked on hardly anything.” 

Sans nodded his head, grateful for her honesty. He hummed in understanding, shoving a wad of paper into the shredder. Too much apparently, as it made a strange clicking sound in protest. 

Neither spoke again for a few minutes. Alphys seemed to be trying to force herself to read the wordy document she fiddled with in her hands. Eventually she spoke again, pointing to her chest, “I’ve got a crack, its b-been there a while.” No louder than a whisper. “Sometimes it feels like I’m going to fade away…” Alphys seemed like she wanted to say more but kept quiet.

Sans could see the large slice down her soul, unlike the many chips and scratches which littered the surface of the little heart, this one looked like it had been sliced straight through. Cringing, he thought about how monsters tended to ‘fall down’ not long after sustaining something of this nature. Like almost all self-inflicted damage to the soul, it was caused by hopelessness, prolonged negative emotion. ‘Near dust’, as people called it. By all accounts it hurt like hell. 

“I know.” He admitted, barely above her previous volume. 

The light glinted in her glasses as Alphys gave him a confused look which shifted after a second into something more understanding, “Oh, right, I guess I told you in a d-different timeline.” 

“Yeah.” He lied. 

Alphys opened her mouth to say something but closed it quickly, looking unsure. She repeated the movements a few times before Sans finally saved her. “S’ok, you can ask.”

“A-are we… were we ever h-happy?

“Yeah.” Though not a total lie, it was still too far and too technical to be the truth. His words faltered this time and Alphys met his eye. Spying his deception, she nodded and turned away. Sans let his magic droop in guilt and vulnerability. 

“But that’s just me, you know? I’m probably not the most optimistic person when it comes to… well, life.” He grinned honestly. 

“But that’s just Resets, you know.” Sans said with a sigh. “This may not have been the very best outcome, but it’s as pleasant as we can ask for.” He smiled, trying to be more sincere. 

Alphys nodded and smiled back. It seemed like they were a little more on the same page now. 

She hopped to her feet, “Well, I think it’s time for m-more drinks and stuff! You g-got until then to get all the sad out of you, t-then it’s back to the most fun filing day ever!” Alphys giggled forcefully and swung around the door, the pattering of her feet disappearing down the corridor. 

Now alone, Sans stood, stretching his back, trying to get some of the ache out of his spine. Taking the opportunity, he shoved the stack of paper he had been reading into the shredder, making it sputter and grind at the amount. Then he saw it, hot pink and covered in worn stickers and large keyrings. Alphys’ phone. 

An idea came to mind. Not exactly the most morally sound but might work well in the long run. An extremely momentary debate flashed through his mind before the impulse won. Leaning down, Sans picked up Alphys’ phone. 

To his surprise, there was no password or locking feature, the background displaying a half-naked cat girl in an art style reminiscent of the shows his friend watched. Heh, how tasteful. Finding the messaging function, Sans discovered Undyne’s name at the top of the list, favourited and under most frequent. Her name punctuated with two blue and green hearts at the end. 

‘Heya undyne. Got somthin I wnted 2 tlk 2 u bout.’ Sans tapped into the dialogue box, attempting to replicate Alphys’ style of text messaging. 

As soon as the ‘send’ button was hit, adrenaline flooded through his bones. This was defiantly a breach of Alphys’ trust. It was worth it in the long run though, whatever would be enough to start a conversation between the two girls. 

‘Ping!’ The sound startled him. A message back from Undyne flashed upon the screen. Sans hadn’t expected her to reply this quickly, whenever he text the Captain he was usually looking at a reply speed of two days, if at all. 

‘What up?’ It read. Ah, always a way with words. 

Leaning against the grey dusty wall, Sans tapped a pen to his skull in thought. 

‘Ive always rly likd u. Ddnt no how 2 tel u.’ That was what people said to each other in these situations, right? 

The reply took a while to appear, as if Undyne was taking her time choosing a response. Sans took the downtime to repeatedly fling a heavy stapler into the air, catching it in his bony fingers. 

‘For reals? Like this aint some prank? Sans doesnt have ur phone?’ She replied. 

‘4 reals.’ He added in a heart emoji. How gross. 

She text back faster than any of her previous replies, ‘Date? Im cool for a date if u r?’

‘That wud b supr!’ Then on the next line- ‘Tonite?’ With another heart on the next line. Still gross.

Sans flung the stapler in the air again. His eye suddenly caught a shape looming in the doorway. He froze. The metal object fell to the floor, clattering loudly. 

Dripping and pale with _too many eyes_ \- if that was indeed what they were. It was motionless aside from its lower body rhythmically undulating.

‘Ping!’ Alphys’ phone broke the silence. 

They held eye contact for at least half a minute. The skeleton rose his arm slowly to give a half-hearted wave. The Amalgamate’s head shuddered unnaturally in response. 

While being in proximity to these monsters did not especially bother Sans, he still preferred the company of Alphys when they appeared. He also preferred to not be cornered in a very small room. If push came to shove and he was forced to defend himself, Sans was unsure whether killing this thing was even possible. 

“Hello.” He coughed out. 

No response. The air smelt quite strongly of lemons. 

“I’m Sans, Alphys’ friend”. Hoping he sounded confident, he gestured to himself. 

It emitted a guttural sort of growl, like the glugging sound of water being sucked down a plughole. 

Looking around the room for some sort of distraction, Sans found the chocolate bowl. 

With a careful step over the various stacks of paper, Sans slowly made his way across the cramped room. Back pressed to the paper lined shelves, the creature’s head turned to follow his movements. Still it did not attack. 

“Hey, you, err.. Want some food?” He asked, bending down, placing Alphys’ phone back in the space he found it. The plastic bowl was slid forwards along the floor. The mass that was the monster’s head shifted, two mounds rising and blinking. Apparently, these were eyes while the rest of it’s face split horizontally and parted into a strange mouth. 

It gurgled and slumped down, body gelatinous in how it bent, as if lacking vertebra. 

The patter of footsteps echoed down the corridor as the thing gurgled, lowering itself over the bowl. 

“Oh, hey you two, h-having fun?” Alphys stuck her head around the strange sweet-smelling monster, squeezing through the doorway. “Oh, go on, you can have one.” She said, snatching up a chocolate and offering it. The Amalgamate slowly lowered its eyes to the offered item. A sticky tendril seeped out of its body, snatched it from her hand and pulled it into the creature’s mass. Sans had never seen one of these ‘eat’ before, it was vile and fascinating. 

“Now g-go on, we’re busy!” Alphys stumbled on the edge of her lab coat as she ushered the monster from the room. The thing slithered on its lumpy snakelike tail, leaving a sticky film in its wake. A few bits of loose papers stuck onto its slimy body as it left. The Scientist hummed along to the song playing in the background. Finally, she noticed Sans.

“They didn’t bother you, d-did they? Lemon can be nosy.”

Sans gulped, “Nope, all slime n’ dandy here. Jelly good.” He said, feeling less than fine, thanks to ‘Lemon’. 

“Great! Lets m-make a crack at this last shelf.” She said quite triumphantly. “Here’s your drink.”

Sans didn’t wasn’t paying much attention until an icy cold drink can made contact with his skull. 

“S-sorry!” Alphys stammered.

 

Two hours later had the shelves dusted and lined with bright colour coded folders, each displaying the titles of their contents in bold marker pens of matching colours. The duo stood back, admiring their creation. 

“That’s b-better, really gives the room some life.” Alphys remarked with a smile. 

The problem was, she was right. In fact, the two shelves of colourful tidy folders were probably the brightest, most attractive thing down in this dreary old place. 

Sans eyed the damp patches on the grey walls and the large copier which bore a strange liquid stain which seemed immovable, despite how much Alphys had scrubbed it. 

“Place just needs a lick of paint. Light blue and that bit there can be the feature wall. Light pink. It’s all pastel colours then, pastels are in at the moment, right?” Maybe all the hours he spent watching midday home improvement shows would finally pay off. 

Alphys’ tail twitched as she laughed, “Ooh, t-that would be nice! But if we renovate one r-room, then that means we have to do the whole place, right?” 

“Pfft, D.I.Why would we ever do that? This random closet speaks for the whole place. Blab la bla, some kinda metaphor.”

“And what if Toriel wants to come d-down here?” Alphys questioned.

“Well, we just blindfold her, don’t we? Take her here, get points for the good first impression and keep it as the only impression, cuz we blindfold her again when we leave, too. Simple.” 

Alphys blushed, taking out her phone “I mean that’s an idea but… oh.” She trailed off, looking down at the screen, a confused expression on her face.

Sans pulled his hands into his pockets, “Oh yeah, forgot to ask. You are free tonight, right?”

But Alphys did not respond. Realising Sans had impersonated her, she looked annoyed, though that turned to shock and descended into fear as her eyes skimmed the messages. An odd wining noise escaped her. “W-wha- Sans, wha?” The doctor said, struggling to form a sentence. 

“Right? Ya got nowhere to be, right?” 

“WHY DID YOU DO THIS?!” She suddenly shrieked in a mix of terror and anger. Her eyes snapping from the phone screen to Sans, who was getting ready to run if he had to. 

“Well, after the Gyftmas party I felt pretty bad for not helping. Sooo, this is me helping.” Sans grimaced at his friend’s flushed, wide eyed expression.   
“HELPING?!” She yelped. 

His bones clicked as he shrugged, “Yeah, well, Undyne seems pretty game for it, right? I was just helping to push a situation into helping, nothing fishy about that. Come on, gill yourself a chance, Alph!” 

“STOP!” She spat threateningly, returning to her phone, beginning to shakily tap. 

Sighing, he tried to urge her, “Oh c’mon, just give it a try. Call me Mystic Meg but I have seen the truth~!” Sans said in a sing-songy voice, wiggling his fingers as if pulling a vision of the future from a crystal ball. “You two would make a killer couple… A killer whale couple.” He said, making himself laugh. “Get it? Because she’s a fish?”

Holding up a finger for him to be quiet, Sans waited for her to finish tapping her reply. “Where to?” She asked, in the dead serious tone she reserved for when a patient was dying in front of her. “Make it romantic.”

“Well, er. Waterfall, highest point, with the echo flowers. There’s lots of sparkly shit. Chicks dig that.” Don’t think of going to Mettaton’s resort for dinner, he’ll have you up on stage if he sees you.” 

There was another long pause punctuated by the pinging sound of receiving messages back from the monster in question. “… What if I text Mettaton and ask him not to be there?” She asked.

Laughing, he replied, “Then you are defiantly ending up on stage.”

“You see that with your magic crystal ball?” She asked, still serious, barely pulling her eyes from the screen.

“Hah! No, I’m just a good judge of character.” 

A buzzer sounded from further down the hallway. Alphys jumped out of her scales and fumbled with her phone. A video feed of the front door displayed on the device. Mettaton of all people fussed about with his hair. Talk about speaking of the devil. 

“O-oh, Mettaton! Hi!” Alphys stuttered, rather like she had been caught doing something illegal or highly embarrassing. 

The robot’s voice echoed through the speaker on the phone, “Alphys, darling! You better be in, you know how I detest this heat.” 

“Sure y-yeah. Jus’ wait a sec, I’m downstairs.” She said, shutting off the video.

They moved to leave the room, Alphys jabbing a clawed finger in Sans’ direction, “We have n-not finished discussing this!” 

Sans could only nod in agreement, as he flicked the light switch of the little storage closet, sending it back into darkness. 

 

Mettaton was always an interesting person. A fanatical ghost who met a scientist at a human media fan club, had a robot body built for him and took their civilisation by storm as the most successful celebrity in the history of monsterkind. It’s not possible to be uninteresting with a backstory like that. 

Sans spun around on a computer chair while Alphys adjusted some finer circuitry in the robot’s leg, which had been dented a week ago by none other than Papyrus. They made idle conversation, Mettaton seemed quite impressed that Alphys was accompanied by a guest today. 

“Yeah, Papyrus feels pretty terrible about it. I’ve never known him so choked up about something, well maybe except that time he washed is favourite shirt with reds and it came out pink. He’s a sensitive soul.”

Mettaton, in his Ex form, thanks to complications with his leg, lay on an examination table. “Oh, tell him not to worry.” He said, flicking a hand in a dismissive motion. “In fact, I’d love to collaborate again with him, there is a spark of talent in there, ready to be refined into something befitting of a star… That and I had the most viewers I’ve had all year. It seems people love that stunt he pulled. The crowds love genuine bloodshed...” He trailed off. 

It wasn’t the first time Sans had heard a similar thing from Mettaton about his brother, after all, both skeletons had been recruited by the star in a timeline which now felt very distant. “Yeah, I’ll tell him that. I think at least fifteen people have approached him to ask ‘Were you the one who almost chopped MTT’s leg off?’”

Alphys sniggered from where she worked on the exposed wiring, “I bet he’s loved that.”

“Oh you know it.” Sans chuckled, “Papyrus has been hoping someone’s gonna ask him for an autograph next.” The last weeks events had distracted him enough that his brother had not worked on the murder case nearly at all. “Undyne wasn’t a fan though. She actually got quite upset with him for giving out too much information. Turns out the public shouldn’t have gotten such an exclusive look into such a killer news story.” 

Rolling his eyes, Mettaton shifted into a more comfortable position on the table, striking a pose as if he were about to be photographed for a magazine. “Oh yes, dear old Undyne had quite a lot to say to me also, in the way of keeping my nose out of Royal Guard business. I said ‘Honey, its news. Royal Guard business is general public business, or must I ask our new Queen for a list of the Guard’s official responsibilities, since it is all revised and public now’.” 

From her steady movements, Alphys coughed.

“What, dear?” The lounging robot asked. 

“You’re moving.” She stated, not taking her eyes from the delicate work. 

Mettaton hummed in response allowing a moment of silence before continuing to chat. “Rather ghastly business though, isn’t it? These killings?”

“Sure is.” Sans huffed as he kicked the chair in circles, barely showing the others he was paying attention. “Can’t believe someone would want to off Ignis.” He leaned his head back into the very nice dark grey leather chair. Something which must have had a lot of use in the busier past days of the lab. It was frayed under the knees and must have originally sat someone much taller than himself. Sans could not think of an individual so tall and thin from his time working here. 

At this, Alphys finally sat back on her stool, “Yeah, w-why would someone target him? Ignis was the n-nicest teacher I ever had. He was never too f-far away if I needed advice, was always round here. Brought me cookies just b-before Gyftmas.” She sounded distinctly upset. “He used to ask about you a lot, Sans.”

“Hmm, you tell him I quit science to become a dumb layabout?” Sans asked sarcastically. 

“Yep.” Came her short reply. 

Sans held no ill feelings over their old Professor, none at all. Like most people who met him, the skeleton agreed he was a master at most aspects of his chosen subject as well as understanding people. Sure, he would show up at the lab a fair amount but his true home was the university. Despite the thin trickle of students wanting to pursue any sort of science. The Professor had always upheld a high standard from his students, he had at times been ruthless in turning away monsters who struggled to keep up with their studies or lacked his standard of grades. The thought reminded Sans of his old passion for the subject. The level of effort he had put into studying, helping at the labs as well as jobs on the side made him shudder. It all felt like a different life.   
Sans had not spoken to Ignis in years and looking back, felt quite regretful of that. 

Mettaton spoke up, “Why did you leave here, Sans?”

“Oh, the lab?” He asked, “Well, um, I don’t think I provided much, to be honest. Any theories I helped prove to be fact had nowhere to really expand on and my inventions were pointless or flawed.” Sans said, not meeting Mettaton’s eye.

Alphys sat back again tutted loudly, glaring over her shoulder at her lacklustre friend. “Oh, come on, t-that’s hardly the truth.” She nodded back to Mettaton, “Sans was an expert in physics. Notably a specialist when it c-came to time and space. And he was damn good at it.” 

“Sounds impressive! Mind explaining the specifics?” The robot asked.

Sans met his eye for a second before the chair twirled around, “No.” He said shortly. 

“That doesn’t explain why you stopped though, if it was clearly a passion.” Mettaton probed.

Even Alphys shot him a side glance from where she worked, clearly curious also. 

Sighing, Sans gave the best explanation he could, “I don’t remember much. It had something to do with the old Royal scientist, I dunno, I felt like I was being used more as a guinea pig than an active person in the team. We’d been working on something which I’d had mixed opinions about for some time… and then something happened. I don’t remember, an accident maybe, just something which was the last straw. Next thing I remember is grabbing my bro and hightailing it down to Snowdin to move house, knowing I was never going back to the lab again.” It was all true, minus a few specifics Mettaton of all people should be the last to know about. Sans could still easily recall the feeling of crushing dread and sorrow which kept him from the lab for some years. It was peculiar to hold feeling with no real memories to accompany them. 

A meaningful look from Alphys told him that she, on some level, related greatly to his words.

“Who was the old Royal Scientist? Can’t say I’ve ever heard mention of them?” Mettaton asked thoughtfully. 

Sans shrugged, the chair had come to a slow stop from its motion, the lines of the room still blurring and spinning. “Dunno, don’t remember. Name began with ‘G’, I think… I think.”

The robot barked a laugh which reverberated around the dusty walls of Exam Room 1. “You can’t just forget someone who you worked with for years.” He scoffed. 

“It’s true,” Alphys commented, “N-no one remembers ‘em. I think about it a lot actually, I’ve l-looked a lot but never found any straightforward answers. I notice strange things around here all the time, it’s like its hidden in plain sight.” She fitted a panel back into place now that her surgery was done and began bolting the nearly microscopic screws back into place. “Maybe it was a f-failed experiment. Maybe magic, some sort of memory blocker to stop us from remembering. That doesn’t explain how _no one_ knows w-who they were. Needless t-to say, I have my theories.” Alphys patted her patient’s leg. “Try that.”

Mettaton hopped down from the bed with a jump and a bow. Sans would hold up a ‘10’ score card, if he had one. After what looked like a few yoga moves, the robot scooped Alphys into a hug. “That is perfect as almost always, thank you dear. I’ve got a dance routine tonight and I wouldn’t want the camera to catch any mishaps thanks to robotics.” 

Something seemed to ping in Sans head and idea. Cameras. “Hey, Alph, you got the recording feed to the Hotlands residential areas?” He asked, leaning forward from the comfy desk chair.

 

The video feed showed the main path leading down to where Professor Ignis lived. The roof of his house visible over the surrounding buildings and landscape. The date of Gyftmas eve and the party in Snowdin typed into the computer. 

The bright orange form of Ignis waddled down the pathway in the early afternoon accompanied by a scattering of others, all presumably on their way to Snowdin. The monster stood at just above five-foot-tall, had six limbs, was fairly old and grappled with a long woollen scarf. 

Clicking fast forward, the video zoomed to early evening. Hotlands was quiet, pillars of smoke hissed from the gaps in craggy rock and the light dimmed, casting the formations into shadow. Keeping the tape sped up, Sans began to pause the video only when someone was seen entering the residential area. 

Around nine o-clock saw a group of kids daring each other to jump across a small bubbling lava pool, which they did until another passer-by reprimanded them, sending the group scurrying away. A larger midnight blue bear wondered down the path wearing Royal Guard armour. A fire elemental sauntered past, casting a yellow flicker of light onto the darkening scenery. 

Sans grabbed a piece of paper. He jotted down their vague description and the time on the video, logging their movements. Occurrences of traveling folk lessened as time dripped on. 

10:24pm. Sans frowned as a familiar figure stamped down the pathway. Large, round, whitish grey with six spindly limbs. Egg. The monster must have left not long after Sans saw him during the festivities in Snowdin to make it all the way here, unless he took the riverboat, that is. The hard-shelled creature trudged down into the residential area, disappeared for no more than seven minutes before re-emerging and walking back the same way he came. Totally puzzled and decently suspicious, Egg’s arrival and departure times were logged down on his scrap paper. 

More of the same as the tape wound on. Some folks he recognised, some he didn’t, moved about in the late evening. 

Another silhouette rounded a corner from the deeper part of Hotlands. They slouched in a slow gated walk as he hit the play button. Sans took a long swig of his fizzy drink and jotted the time on his paper, as the figure rounded the shadowed corner into the light of the main pathway. The drink was almost sneezed back out of his nose as Sans saw himself on the video. Staring at the screen in utter confusion as he watched himself walk down the house lined road. 

Had he really walked all the way there from Alphys’? It wasn’t that far, honestly, it just felt like quite the journey for someone of his motivation. He was definitely out walking at that time, but was totally unable to pull the memory of being in this place at this time. It wasn’t totally uncommon for Sans to talk a random midnight stroll in a complete daze and wake up in bed in the morning having apparently made it back there at some point. If anyone were to question it, he would call it one of his ‘quirks’. No, Sans was not proud. 

Self-consciously, Sans checked he was still alone in the room. It seemed Alphys was still milling about with whatever she was up to and had thankfully left him alone for this task. Slamming the fast forward button, Sans crossed out the time from his notepaper. 

Very little else cropped up following this. A few drunk monsters stumbled back home early in the morning and soon the dawn was rising with the light from New Home. 6:32, Ignis shuffled back, just as the first trickles of light caught the rocks. It matched up with what the bunnies who ran the inn had said,- He had stayed the night in Snowdin and left around five in the morning for the slow walk back home to Hotlands. That sort of behaviour was well fitting with how Sans remembered his old teacher. The salamander seemed in no distress, he just waddled unsteadily on his old joints. 

Keeping the video playing at its normal speed, Ignis disappeared around the bend of the road. One minute. Two minutes. **BANG!** A rumble shook the surrounds and even the surveillance camera wobble when hit by the shockwave as bluish white energy blasts burst from the house. Bits of wall slammed into the opposite building and chunks of roof flew into the air, clattering back down. A layer of dust scattered up into the air in an invisible blasting radius. No other audio had been recorded from the feed, though the blast came through the video in a hard staticky buzz. Almost immediately, people were running out into the street, yelling to each other in the silent video. 

The Guard arrived soon after, the blue bear from the night before was one of the first on the scene. Sans watched and made notes as they controlled the crowd, a large ox-like monster taking the lead, delegating his people into different roles. The huge guy was efficient and well-practiced in dealing with happenings of this scale, it seemed. The strangest thing was how no one seemed to have left the house after committing the murder. No one fled the scene. Meaning the killer had managed to merge with the group of bystanders who appeared in the first seconds after the explosion, or they had fled a different way. 

Reminded of the way Flowey had been difficult to track, thanks to moving below ground, Sans twisted on his chair, trying to think up weird and wonderful ways someone could escape a crime scene undetected. Underground was possible, flying, invisibility or maybe a teleport similar to his own. A memory affecting magic like they had theorised earlier with Mettaton? Maybe form shifting?

Eventually, Undyne and Papyrus arrived on the recording. Sans watched as they were pulled to the side by the ox, who comedically towered over them both, before carrying on down to the smoking wreck. 

“You ok?” Alphys called from the doorway behind. Sans turned to see her with an armful of equipment. Her eyes squinted through her glasses at the screen. “W-wow, is that the Professor’s house?” 

“Tiny bit of it.” Sans said, feeling at a total loss. 

The lizard wondered closer, a metal instrument slipping from under her arm, making a clatter against the white floor tiles. “You find anything o-of use?” 

“I guess? Honestly, I’m more confused than anything. You ok?” 

“Well, I, um...” She stammered, looking around the room randomly. “I need your h-help.” 

“I can do a few more days down here clearing out, if ya like?” Sans offered. 

Alphys perked up, “Well that would b-be great, today was even kinda fun!” She laughed, though it carried a distinctly nervous undertone, “No, that’s not it. I just… I… I d-don’t know what to w-wear for later!” The scientist squeaked in distress.

Sans pressed his bony palm to his skull. Well, it was he who had put Alphys in this situation to begin with, it would to be rude to back out now. Though he might need to call Papyrus or Grillby for advice on ‘how to do a date’. Clearly neither him nor Alphys had any idea what they were doing. Whatever happened, Sans felt pretty invested in his friend’s happiness, wanting to see her succeed. 

He slid the note paper into his pocket and shut off the video monitor. Whatever had happened in Hotlands could wait.


	13. Black Holes

Two days later had Papyrus frowning over a crossword. This particular one was proving rather difficult, with several answers avoiding his grasp. It was his morning off before going to train with Undyne later, where he would be required to give a rundown of the happenings this week in Snowdin and of course his murder investigation. 

The investigation itself was proving quite tiring, it was now over a week since the Professor’s death and over a month since that of Ms Truffle. The television shows depicted constant clues and fast paced action, which in this instance seemed to be far from reality. 

When Sans had returned home from Alphys’ home and presented him with a very well written list of monsters and the times they entered the residential area of Hotlands Ignis had lived, Papyrus had been delighted. Sans had barely lifted a bony finger throughout this whole affair and it was reassuring to know that the lazy bones was keeping a metaphorical eye out for any suspicious activity. 

The next thing on their to-do list was to question Egg, the mysterious silent figure regularly seen in Grillby’s. Unfortunately, Egg had taken this opportunity to disappear for several days. Papyrus waited eagerly for someone to spot the thick shelled monster back in Snowdin. Hopefully they could get a few answers from him as to why he had been seen around the Professor’s house, as seen by Alphys’ cameras. 

Unfortunately, no similar cameras had been pointing in the direction of Ms Truffle’s house. 

Regardless, the note had been pinned pride of place upon the living room wall’s mind map of people and events. The list had changed significantly, now containing wordy profiles of both victims. Especially their most recent, Ignis. ‘No children or next of kin. No criminal background, believed no enemies. Regularly bathed in cheesy macaroni. Suspected to have been killed during robbery.’ Was written below the rough drawing of the fiery salamander, from an informative message sent from Arcas, Papyrus’s new friend and soon to be fellow Guard member. 

The bear and his friend, the rather odd Flyguy, had been in touch regularly over the week after interviewing those who knew the deceased. Papyrus was very grateful as it saved him from needing to make the trek down through the Underground to Hotlands. He had discovered the silent bear monster was rather eloquent with his words when spoken to over text. The skeleton wondered offhand whether the flashing sparkles of his fur were what Arcas communicated with or something more like the telepathy his brother’s boyfriend used. 

Papyrus cringed at the thought. Boyfriend. It sounded wrong somehow, like the thought of Sans being in any sort of relationship was so far out to sea that it shouldn’t even be a concept. Of course, if Grillby made him happy then Papyrus had no issue, regardless of his mild dislike of the elemental. A conflict of personalities, that was all Papyrus’s issue stemmed from. It was the skeleton’s opinion that Grillby’s bar was a large reason for Sans’ somewhat dysfunctional state, though this idea applied to other residents of the small town, also. Those people who spent large portions of time getting drunk from early in the day to last thing at night. The idea of it made him feel bitter, what a waste…

Papyrus attempted to think of nicer things. 

Speaking of dating… Two of his best friends, Alphys and Undyne had decided suddenly to go on a date several evenings ago. Judging from the early morning phone call he had received from an ecstatic Undyne, who excitedly recounted the evening in a second by second replay; it must have gone well. 

Both monsters had seemed to move from best friends to madly in love within the day. The two had suddenly become so in sync that Papyrus had wondered whether they had ended up soul bonding in a moment of thoughtless passion. He suspected one of them would have mentioned that in the in-depth rundown both skeletons had received after the girls’ date.

Offhandedly, Papyrus wondered whether Grillby and Sans had experienced a similar out-of-nowhere awakening of sorts. The idea nearly made him laugh. Of course they hadn’t. 

In a huff, the newspaper was tossed onto the table, having beaten him with its last few questions. Slightly annoyed, the skeleton stood and stretched his back. The puzzle may have won for now, but he would return mighty and more knowledgeable! Just because he failed one did not mean he wouldn’t beat a million others! For now, however, a change of scenery was required.

Sprinkling some food on the pet rock, Papyrus grabbed a box of cleaning supplies and made his way passed the vase of sunflowers he had brought home several days previous. In a strange turn of events, they had began turning an acidic green the day after Sans had returned from his lab day with Alphys. Their petals curling up into little rolls before dropping off. He headed upstairs. Tidying would clear his mind enough to tackle more puzzles later. Afterall, a tidy living space meant a tidy head space.

Inside his room, Papyrus began to organise draws and boxes, making sure everything was folded perfectly and stacked neatly. Being a monster who appreciated an organised environment, he found the activity therapeutic. Finding the best position for optimum use or convenience. Needless to say, his room and most of the house were perfectly ordered. Unfortunately, _others_ didn’t always appreciate this. He thought, shooting a side glance to the wall which separated his room from his brother’s. 

Perhaps Papyrus’s love of order had stemmed from the dreadful cluttered environment Sans had allowed them to live in before they came to Snowdin. Sans had always been partial to leaving a mess, though in their old box-room accommodation in the capital was nothing compared to the mess his room was now! 

Attempting to get through the clutter and wall of socks, Papyrus estimated it would take him about a week to get Sans’ room to the clean, organised state his own kept. He had already nagged Sans for the last six months to clear his floor enough that Papyrus could at least attempt to clean the stains out of the carpet. As usual, this request had fallen on deaf ears. 

As he searched through his closet, a few boxes were pulled out. These had been hidden under various other blankets and all sorts. They were worn and tatty with age, cardboard, lids tied on with string. Papyrus sat down beside them on the floor. Likely these would contain old things he could be rid of to free up more space, aside from maybe a select item holding sentimental value, they could go. Useless clutter was after all, the skeleton’s number one nemesis. Mercilessly, he tore through the bindings and opened the box.

The two boxes contained: Some picture books, a few cool old shirts from when he was a baby bones, stuffed toys, a few school books, an old framed photo and some lose ones, some video cassettes and a series of three old diaries. These were all laid out around him for examination as Papyrus sat down with them on the floor. 

The diaries were from three consecutive years, where Papyrus had been struck with a sudden passion to record his daily life. Probably out of boredom thanks to them living in the cramped capital at the time. Picking those up first, they mostly documented the goings on of his small school class and little things at home. The writing barely readable and written almost as if the intention was to misspell every word. Scraps of paper were slotted inside the first two, a collection of odds and ends his younger self found worthy of keeping. The final book trailed off, mostly used as notepaper or to doodle on, as the interest was gradually lost. 

Each book contained an introduction to himself with a scribbled picture of himself and Sans. One particularly eventful entry documented trouble caused by a glass of milk, complete with a signature at the bottom from his brother, to verify that it had indeed happened. A list of particularly good jokes Sans had told were found several pages later in his excitable scribbly handwriting. 

Sat cross-legged reading for a while, some entries jogged memories while others did not. All spoke of a happy exciting life where, to Papyrus, at least one wonderful thing happened each day, regardless of how mundane it may have seemed to the average onlooker. Class projects, Sans trying to teach him chess and Papyrus not understanding why the pieces couldn’t just make friends. His brother being unwell and tired due to his weak soul but pushing on regardless, urging Papyrus to not worry about him.

Book two had a highlights segment at the end listing the best bits of the year. One which stuck out to him was Sans being chosen to be the apprentice to the Royal Scientist himself! It listed his name, but somehow the letters of the mystery person’s name seem to evade his eyes even when stared directly at. Papyrus gave up when a headache started to set in. Instead, he continued, forgetting the name. The ache in his skull disappearing as soon as he turned the page. 

The third book still contained an overview of the year, despite not being really used for its intended purpose. It included the first mentions of his dream to be a member of the Guard. Exams, most of which he failed, ‘too busy dreaming’ said a cut-out from a teacher. Sans not spending much time at home anymore as he spent most of his time in the lab, studied at the university and kept up two jobs. A photo of their home in the capital. It had mustard yellow and dark green walls, greyed with mould and damp. Brown furniture, their single mattress and unfurnished floor which was gritty and grey and housed various piles of junk. If he thought hard enough, Papyrus could still recall the smell of the place. 

The name of the scientist cropped up a few more times. Reading around the strangely undetectable name, Papyrus had apparently met the monster on a day when Sans had taken him along to work. A younger Papyrus had commented that the man was odd, a bit scary but overall friendly, and a skeleton, like him, yay!

Papyrus hadn’t seen these in years.

The feeling was a surreal one. Most of his early life in New Home had been lost to time, all blurring into a couple of distinct time periods. Looking back over these items, they now all came with memories attached. Mostly good, a few not so much, but they were all his. 

A tiny shirt folded neatly at the bottom of the cardboard box, it wore a large yellow stain on the front from spilling pasta sauce. The microwave kind that tastes of chemicals. How Sans had perfected the fine art of microwaving through the years until he became confident enough that papyrus wouldn’t burn their block down to let him cook something. 

The stuffed toys his brother gave him to help Papyrus feel safe while home alone on the long days and nights his brother was out working. They reminded Papyrus of the noises their unfriendly neighbours made, rattling through the walls on cold nights. 

The photographs were mostly blurry. Some were random things, like a cool moth he’d found on his wall. An unflattering picture of Sans which had resulted in a pillow being thrown at Papyrus. Strange picture of beans on untoasted bread which the skeleton eventually concluded was the first meal he prepared. A school project was documented as well as some drawings he made.  
They still had the camera somewhere. Sans had found it broken in a trashcan and repaired it good as new. 

Each thing had meaning now. All artefacts of the past.

The diaries especially made Papyrus ponder the present. It was working out well for him, he thought. Each day felt like a step closer to achieving his dream and Snowdin had been so wonderful, he loved the little town. 

But what of his brother? 

Happy, fun loving, funny (well, within reason), optimistic. These words described someone left behind by time. They hung like shadows behind the person Papyrus shared this home with. To an onlooker it was a poorly convincing patchwork of what Sans was once like. 

As far as he knew, the biggest cause for change had been the last day Sans had spent in the lab. Papyrus recalled how he had all but kicked their front door down, hours before he was due back home. They wasted no time bagging up their small number of belongings and walked the length of the Underground all the way to Snowdin and their new house in one gruelling trek. Arriving late in the night. The specifics of the arrangement were never discussed and Papyrus was too young and too thankful for the change to care about much else. 

Sans however seemed shaken, distinctly unsettled by something. Not returning to the lab for a number of years. He was still the happy smiling person Papyrus knew. His weak soul would still often be a problem but the two were used to that, it wasn’t like it had gotten worse, in fact, his symptoms had decreased over the years. Aside from that, there was no defining event, no pivotal moment that caused the change in his brother because some point after that, a shift began to occur. It was one of those changes too slow to actively watch, like how their fake sun changed colour slowly in the morning, you look back after a while and its different. In the same way, Sans had begun to lose momentum, to a state where he couldn’t bring himself to get out of bed in the morning. A state where the only thing worth getting up for is a day spent at the bar. 

In a moment of reflection and clarity, Papyrus wondered if the reason for his unfounded dislike of Grillby came from a selfish part of him. A part that whispered that Sans should be spending the most time with him, because they were brothers, right? It was ugly, and Papyrus hoped that that was not truly a part of him. 

Whatever the story was, it stood to reason that the skeleton depicted in the pages of his books was not the person he kicked out to work this morning, who was probably sat at the bar right now getting horribly drunk. It was a puzzle, a mystery needing to be solved. 

Papyrus sat back on his long legs and contemplated. Just like a crossword puzzle you can’t figure out, its best to work out the words connecting to it, to give you a better idea of what the difficult word could be. 

_The lab, his jobs, New Home, the sudden move to Snowdin, the scientist who’s name wouldn’t appear in his mind._  
All made up who Sans was, or rather what he would become. 

One more photo stared up at him from the box. Both brothers dressed up for a party in cardboard costumes Sans had diligently scavenged and spent the whole night making despite having worked from dawn to dusk that day. Grinning like he meant it. 

A picture started to form in Papyrus’s mind, grimmer and more visceral than his cheerful filter to the world would usually have him experience. His soul gave an uncertain thud. Looking back down at his old scattered belongings, it seemed like they were suddenly the most important things he owned. Elevated from useless junk to treasures lost from times past, when things were different but just similar enough to relate and draw comparison to. 

All old relics, named and numbered in his head like a crime scene, returned to their evidence boxes. Back into his closet, the door closed softly behind them, as not to wake anymore bittersweet memories. The idea of throwing any of it away was suddenly repulsive to him. 

The VHS tapes stayed out, and were instead stored beside the skeleton’s computer for viewing in the near future. These were accompanied by the photo frame. It displayed both of them again in their old room, on Sans’ birthday. He had attempted to bake his own cake. Neither cared that it had turned out a disaster and both looked to be having a blast. The broken frame was propped up beside Papyrus’s bed. 

Standing back in his empty room, Papyrus was filled with a renewed sense of purpose. He knew his brother was unhappy, that smile he wore had been a mask for some time now, years even. He would find the pieces that helped create the Sans of the present. There were cracks in that little blue soul of his, but the harder Papyrus looked, the deeper they ran, infesting the core of his being.

He needed to figure out what had punctured that soul in the first place, the shot that left the people around Sans in the wake of a vile exit wound. 

Why had he not done this sooner? A second investigation was starting from this second. If his main case would not yield fast results then maybe adding a second would help him think. Papyrus accepted his new mission. He would get to the bottom of this mystery and save his brother. 

Oof, what an emotional tidy up! Grabbing his phone from his pocket Papyrus noted it was about time he set off towards Undyne’s home in Waterfall. His newest investigation would have to wait. 

His next place to look was through those tapes in search of clues. It might be a difficult thing, to break down those walls to find the real Sans lurking behind his masked façade. It would be worth it though, if it meant saving him; and Papyrus would save him, by any means necessary. 

 

With a pull of magic, Sans’ slippered feet landed on the tiled floor. Morning light poured in through the stain glass windows of the Judgment Hall, filing the room with light yellows and greens. A very routine occurrence, being the Royal Judge. He moved in the deep shadows the light cast, watching as a guest entered. 

A small monster made their way into a vast room, floating, cautiously flitting about the air two feet from the ground. Round and puffy looking, a greyish white when caught in the light and a texture like cotton wool. 

Sans frowned to himself, recognising the approaching monster.

They stopped some distance from where the Judge waited, both cloaked in shadow. Cloudnine bobbed in place. They didn’t hide their fear as it’s body lightly pulsated in what might have been a vague breathing motion. 

“This isn’t your first time here.” Sans stated, attempting to disguise his voice enough that the little monster who’s presence he had become quite used to around Snowdin, did not recognise him.

“Y-yeah. I, um, few years back I was here.” They stammered.

“S’ok, you don’t have to worry, I don’t bite.” He attempted to reassure. Fear in the face of the Judge was quite normal, though all monsters were different. Sans thought it was a fairly rational fear. He was incredibly thankful it was he who held the position, feeling safer knowing no one else was likely to see the state of his soul. 

Speaking of which, he looked over Cloud’s. Still no LV, a small amount of ExP. Still with that notably high attack power. It made the skeleton curious what the little thing could do if enraged, though with a magic pool that deep, they probably wouldn’t need to be swayed too greatly by emotion to do some serious damage. 

Cloud shuddered as they pulled the soul from within them, letting it float just above their form. An unnecessary gesture but a welcome one regardless. 

Sans hummed as he evaluated the little monster. They were patient and good natured, with the wild enthusiasm of a child- it reminded him of Papyrus. There was also fear and a great distrust, not of Sans but rather something much greater. Something in that soul made it difficult to read, it was confusing. Like two radio stations broadcasting simultaneously from the same frequency, mixed messages from a strange anomalous bubble in the tiny heart. 

While souls, by nature had their oddities and quirks, Sans found this quite unusual. It made Cloudnine, as a being in general difficult to read and the more he checked, the more the core elements of Cloud’s character felt contradicted. 

The monster began to squeak again as Sans attempted to piece together this strange occurrence. “I d-don’t know what t-to do.”  
Sans gave a questioning hum, hoping his guest would continue. 

“It’s j-just so hard-. I try a-and try and it just-.” They chirped in a higher pitch than Sans had heard them speak before. “It was good, it w-was going real g-good but then all of THIS happened and I- I just can’t belie-.” They hiccupped, a few droplets of water hitting the tiles below in a tearful rainfall. 

After giving them nearly a minute to continue, Sans spoke up. “Are you referring to the current state of monsterkind, after the incident with the human some time ago?” 

Shaking it’s whole body in a negative, Cloud tearfully choked, “Monsters will a-always be stuck here, anyone who hasn’t accepted that yet is a-an idiot. No, I’m more s-selfish than that. It’s me. It’s us.” 

Then Sans saw it. Maybe the monster’s emotion broke down some sort of barrier, maybe it was some other stimulus. Cloud had acquired ExP, but Sans could see that it was not through any inherently violent means. He vaguely recalled the amorphous thing talking about once being a medic, a field where trying to save the dying with your own energy was bound to carry consequences. 

This anomaly was not that. This was far from that. There in the little grey soul was an intense willingness and capability to do harm. A bloodlust, cold and hidden. A concealed savageness, indifference on the level of a killer. Cloudnine had stood before him previously and back then Sans had missed this completely. 

It was there, plain as day. It unnerved Sans to his core that something so hostile was so well disguised within this pleasant little creature. Concealed emotion was not uncommon, everyone has a bit of themselves they despise, the skeleton could appreciate that. However, there was something so wrong about this. Cloudnine was emotional and empathetic, a monster with such cold bloodthirsty desires would be neither of those. 

It left him at a loss for what to do. 

“Why did you come here today?” Sans asked.

Cloud peaked up with it’s many eyes, “I just-. You know, it all feels bad sometimes. It feels like I’ve done s-something awful. I f-feel dirty. Like I need s-someone to verify… me.” 

Interesting. Did Cloud even know that this was a part of them? Well, they must do. Foreshadowed behaviour like that wasn’t normally preprogramed into people, more like obtained from outside influences. 

“Have your soul back.” He said. 

Less than a second and the grey heart had zipped back to its owner. 

“You have some real loves in your life, don’t you? Tell me about that.” This was more from information he had obtained through chatting, rather than reading the soul.

Cloud perked up, almost immediately. “I’m a meteorologist. I love the weather, a-any kind of weather. It doesn’t change a lot d-down here, but I love it. I did another science when I was younger but I switched after things h-happened and I l-love it now, I’ve m-met some wonderful friends,” They said with shuddering breaths, “My m-magic is the weather, so its l-like its meant to be, you know? I’ve g-got some great people around me- it gets difficult sometimes but we always make it work. Everything always works out in the end.” They seemed to trail off. 

It had all been spoken with passion and it swayed Sans’ decision.

He folded his arms, “Don’t forget that. I can see you know how to adapt, so when things get difficult remember what you’ve just told me. Keep those people close to you. Things are easier with people around. Hold on to your love, yeah?” 

Cloud looked suddenly overcome with relief, their whole body seemed to sniffle. The little faces began one by one to tilt up in smiles. “T-thank you.” They said, dipping low in a bow. 

Sans nodded. 

“O-oh, sorry about t-the floor.” Sure enough, a little puddle had formed.

“That’s ok, nothing a wet floor sign can’t fix.” He joked.

Cloud laughed at that, gave another nod and slowly swam through the air back towards the exit.

“Don’t forget.” Sans called back from where he still stood, “Hold onto your love.”

Turning back, the little grey shape nodded, “Ok, I w-won’t forget!” 

Then he disappeared. 

Sans sighed, relaxing his shoulders. What a puzzling case. Over the many hundreds of monsters he had seen in this room, very few had been put to death by his hand. Regardless of this, Sans could tell a violent monster from a mile away, not looking at their Level of Violence (that would be cheating). What he saw in Cloud had the potential to do a lot of harm. The Judge would have been well within their right to eliminate a threat like that. 

Despite this, a chance had to be given, because, for every other sense, Cloudnine was a good person. An incredible one, if they had potentially had this storm (heh) hanging over them. Persisting to beat it down and remain loving. The little monster must have known that darkness was inside them and still came to be judged, knowing there was real possibility they would be ruled unfit to continue in the monster’s society. 

The little puffball had been brave and Sans would give him a chance. Noting to himself that this would be an interesting situation to see develop. An eye would have to be kept on the little monster in the future. 

For now, it was time to go home.

 

The jukebox growled out what would have been a cheerful jazz number, had a strange coughing noise not been coming out of its speakers alongside the intended tune. Doggo made his way back to his table after giving the thing a good kick. Sure enough, it played slightly smoother now. 

Afters his short excursion to take up his role as Judge, Sans had decided it was time for a trip to Grillby’s. Joining the dogs for a game of cards, Sans sat back with a bottle of ketchup. Talk was idle. Grillby mostly busied himself in the kitchen. Pink Bird and the large toothy plant-like monster were invited over. 

“Ayy, Grillby, when ya’ done, come over here.” Dogamy called. 

The bartender looked up but made no other motion. If he replied, it was directly to Dogamy, not to the rest of the class. 

Time spent playing card games into the late afternoon was enjoyable as the light through the windows turned the snow a copper orange in a replication of evening. 

Dogaressa won the most, her husband a close second. Lesser and Greater dog mostly just yipped in excitement whenever anything happened. 

The door creaked open and two monsters trudged in, kicking the snow from their feet. Goldwell, who looked very sorry for himself. Followed by Shrubberthree, who curled a leaf around their friend’s back. One of their heads looked exasperated while the other two looked like they just needed a drink. 

After they received their drinks, the pair went to grab a booth.

“Hey you pair, there’s plenty room left, come have a game.” Dogamy barked over.

The plant monster assessed the crowd, “Um, its fine thanks, we-.”

The Dogi shouted over, “Oh, come on, one game. Doggos actually being sociable today, ya gotta take those opportunities when ya can!” Doggo growled at Dogamy in response. 

Relenting, the two made their way over. After some shuffling and adding another table, the game resumed with extra players. 

Goldwell sat shivering in his large coat, the motion making the lizard’s tail twitch oddly. All of his eyes squinted, as if he had eaten something particularly sour. 

“You look pretty snowed under, what’s up?” Sans asked, nearly drowned out by a roar of excitement from across the table. 

The mustard yellow monster’s magic was usually very mute. Today however it radiated his displeasure. “Monsters are just so stupid!” He hissed. 

Shrubberthre leaned over her friend to talk to Sans, “Algringtonsly is quite upset at the present moment, so do forgive him.” The plant curled some of it’s roots around their friend’s back in comfort. “Business deals falling through and unrevised financial plans.” 

Sans had quite forgotten Goldwell’s strange first name. It made him wonder whether the plant was the only person who called him that. 

“They were not unrevised!” He retorted, slapping a card onto the darkwood when prompted by one of the dogs. 

“Ok, fine whatever you say. It still remains that you need to be patient, stop rushing in with all these plans. Businesses like yours take time to grow. You cant just click your claws after six months and suddenly own half the Underground and a resort as big a Mettaton’s.” The three headed plant chirped, one of it’s flowery heads bumping Goldwell’s shoulder. 

The monster in question huffed. He clearly disliked having his goals put into perspective but found no room to argue back. It was quite childish really.  
With how business minded ‘Algringtonsly’ was, Sans had forgotten the monster’s company was so new.

“Focus on your properties in Snowdin, for now. They’re nice, I’ve spoken to all of the new movers, everyone is happy with their homes.” Then a bit quieter, that the skeleton could only just catch, “Just slow down, Gold. For goodness sake, I worry about you.” 

The conversation moved on and Goldwell slowly but surely warmed up to his company, getting more competitive but not managing to win a game.  
Speaking up from over his hand of cards, Sans asked, “Any of you seen that Egg guy?” 

He was answered with head shakes and the odd groan. 

“Is this the forth day this week you’ve asked us that?” Dogaressa said, placing a card on to the table which made Doggo’s eyes bug out and a squeal to emit from him. “If we see the guy, you or bones’ll be the first ones to know. Ok?” She cooed reassuringly. 

“The egg guy? What you want with ‘em?” Toothy asked, Shrubberthree leaning closer in curiosity. 

Dogamy put on a TV show announcer voice, “They’re arresting him for the murder of Ms Truffle and… the other one!”

“Seriously?” Goldwell blinked in surprise, alongside a few gasps from the patrons not directly involved with the case.

“Well, not really. My bro just wants to talk to him.” Sans sniffed, clearly not finding any of this as exciting as the others. 

Dogaressa shot a glance the skeleton’s way, “Oh, ‘talk to him’, is it?” She smirked. 

Doggo growled, “Well ya ought to watch ya self with that one. Got a feeling he wouldn’t hesitate to take a swipe at ol’ bones if he got the chance.” There were murmurs of agreement around the table. “Walks around like he’s plotting to kill everyone he sees!”

Pink Bird rose her glass, “I’m not a fan. Wouldn’t put anything past that one. Good luck to ya.” 

The game was eventually stopped when Doggo got too annoyed with his losing streak, insisting Dogaressa was cheating. Punches threatened to be thrown, which Ressa was more than happy to partake in. Dogamy found the dilemma unbelievably funny and offered to referee the match. The joke turned quite serious and Pink Bird had to step in to calm the growing threat of violence. While Grillby watched intently from the sidelines.

“You are all ridiculous children! How you ended up as Guardsmen I’ll never know.” The bird had said, fluffing up her feathers. 

The door was opened a fraction, a tiny form slipping through the crack. Cloudnine, grey and dreary looking floated in. In a tiny voice they declined the invitation to the game and instead opted to sit in their drink bowl at the bar, soaking in something strong. 

Sans thought this was fair, considering the little monster’s emotional day. 

The evening progressed in the warmth of pleasant company. Outside, a gentle snowfall was caught in the light of the bar, framed by the windows. 

Some point after Doggo’s outburst, the dogs began daring one another to do various silly activities. Sans had not been paying a great amount of attention to the going on, choosing instead to rest his eyes and absolutely not accidently fall asleep.

Cheers rang out as Dogaressa slammed her husband’s fist to the table, concluding their arm-wrestling match. The other dog was flipped and had landed in Greater Dog’s lap.

“Next rounds on me, I guess!” Dogamy laughed, watching his opponent flex victoriously. 

Everyone began calling out their orders. “I’ll have the same as Pink.” Sans called over. 

“Hell yeah!” Pink Bird said, leaning over for a fist bump. 

‘Actually, I think that’s quite enough tonight.’ Grillby said.

Surprised, Sans looked around, even more surprised to find himself the only one reacting to this news. He turned back to the elemental who, sure enough was looking straight at Sans. 

“What? Why?” Sans asked in protest, receiving strange looks from some of the others in the group.

The bartender crossed his arms, ‘You have somewhere important to be, early tomorrow.’

“Oh c’mon, that’s not fair! It’s not that early in the morning.” He called back. 

By this point, the others were catching on to the subject of the one-sided private conversation and were drawing their own conclusions.  
“Are you two going for a romantic stroll tomorrow?” Doggo teased, “Wouldn’t recommend Snowdin forest, I hear the residents can get a bit bity.” He flashed a grin at Dogaressa, who punched him in the shoulder. 

The others laughed at his joke as well as offering their own. It was the sort of teasing Sans had gotten used to over the last few weeks, usually offering his own humour in response. Goldwell looked between the folks in the bar in confusion, clear he had missed something. 

‘Maybe not, it is early for you, however. I suggest an early night.’ Grillby calmly said.

Sans blinked in mild disbelief, “You want me to go?” Grillby usually only kicked him out much later into the night or when Sans was too wasted to know any different. 

‘I would like you to get a good rest.’ 

Sans stood up and headed to the door, the sound of the others laughing behind him. 

Calling into his mind again, Grillby said, ‘Don’t forget to set an alarm.’

“Whatever.” Sans grumbled, not looking up. The sound dying behind the noise of Greater and Lesser Dog barking loudly along with the other’s laughs.  
‘Shall I text you in the morning?’ The elemental called finally as Sans was halfway through the door. 

“No!” The skeleton shouted back, slamming the door behind him. 

Angrier than he had felt in some time, Sans trudged home. What the hell did Grillby think of him? Did he think Sans was incapable of getting to his meeting with the Queen in the morning, incapable of holding onto his job without Grillby’s help? In front of the others too, that was a real dick move.

Slightly offended, Sans hoped Grillby thought higher of him than that. Did he really think Sans needed looking after like that, as if he were a child?

In protest, Sans took and extra-long time filling out all of his journals and calendars, a habit which had persisted despite there being no Reset for over two months now.

The sound of Papyrus’s snoring rattled through the thin walls. He would show Grillby, would prove he didn’t need his hand held. 

Tomorrow, Sans vowed, he would wake up bright and early. Maybe even before Papyrus was up… whenever that was. He would find the official royal garb he was to wear from wherever it was hiding. He would have a proper breakfast, heck, maybe he’d even make it himself. He would re-read Toriel’s letter to double check he was prepared. Plenty of time to do everything. 

That could wait until tomorrow, it was late and that made it officially sleeping time. The only sleeping time he wasn’t complained at for doing.

Tomorrow would be great, Sans vowed it as such. _It would be great!_


	14. Best day ever

_He remembers how the human left them._

_He remembers a heartbroken Papyrus sitting on the floor of the castle’s throne room, turning the small flowers over in his hands after accepting a responsibility he didn’t know if he could bare. He remembers his brother yelling at him in a commanding tone he had never heard before, shouting that his laziness would not go unpunished next time, to just help him. Remembers the confessional announcement that that it was he all along who held the title of Royal Judge; Papyrus’s reaction when he discovered his innocent brother was a killer. King Papyrus finally realising that his friends were not away on vacation, like he had been assured. He remembers his brother trying desperately to fill the role of a hopeful ruler while feeling utterly broken and lied to. He remembers his brother looking into his soul and understanding what the cracks meant, understanding Sans fully, as if he had never related to his brother as deeply as in those solemn moments._

Slowly blinking out of the nightmare, or rather memory, Sans stirred awake. He groaned and rubbed a hand over his skull as it relinquished its grip over him. Light filtered in through his window where a gentle breeze floated in. The window was cracked open slightly allowing fresh air to penetrate the stale room. 

He yawned, returning back to consciousness. Papyrus must have been in while he was asleep. Sure enough, when Sans rose to an unsteady sitting position, a note was found at the foot of his bed. 

_‘Good morning Sans! Have a pleasant day, I will be down in Hotlands for a meeting with my new Guard friends. If you could clean the fridge and buy some milk that would be lovely! Also please enjoy the fresh porridge left beside this note.  
Love from your BS (Best Sibling), Papyrus.’_

Sans wondered why his brother felt the need to sign his note. Who else was likely to break into his room to leave him breakfast?... Actually, come to think of it, he wouldn’t put that sort of behaviour passed most of his friends. Sure enough, a bowl of porridge sat next to his mattress. 

Shifting to lean his back to the wall, Sans grabbed the bowl. Running a spoon through the mixture revealed it was not only thick enough to be used as heavy construction material but was also hiding chopped carrots and uncooked mushrooms all of which hung suspended in the mixture, unable to sink to the bottom thanks to the incredible texture. 

The nearly solid porridge tasted as good as it looked- dull and unappealing.  
Regardless Sans persisted. Unhurried, taking his time relaxing in the quiet mid-morning.

From where he sat, the clouds had mostly disappeared from the snowfall the night before and the cavern roof was visible. A pleasant dry day. Well, disregarding the snow underfoot at least. 

Sans felt an unfounded motivation. He was going to make today the best he could. Yes, the best day ev-. Wait.

WAIT.

W A I T .

For a whole five seconds everything stopped. 

**His review with Toriel.**

The porridge was tossed to the side, some of the lumpy material flying out at the force of Sans’ sudden movement. Moving at a speed he did not know he possessed, Sans jumped from the mattress. Landing on shaky feet he shoved on a pair of shoes and summoned his magic to take him to the Queen’s castle. _Anywhere_ in the Queen’s castle!

In a flash, he was there. Amongst the massive walls and towering pillars, Sans ran to Toriel’s house. Rounding the corner, he pounded on the door, already out of breath. 

He didn’t need to wait long before the was a _‘click’_ and the huge door swung open, revealing the Queen.  
“Oh, hello Sans! I was terribly worried, when you didn’t pick up my call I-. Are you alright my dear?”

Holding his ribcage with one hand and giving a weak thumbs up with the other, Toriel ushered her friend inside her home. 

“I’m so sorry!” He panted, leaning against a wall. “I- I dunno what happened.” Finally looking down at himself, Sans became aware of what he looked like. Pyjamas. A baggy shirt picturing a cartoon pelvis with the caption ‘I’m so hip’, marked with a large unidentifiable stain. Red flowery shorts. Untied laces and a dollop of cement porridge somehow stuck between his fibula and tibia, suspended horrifically between them. 

“Oh dear, what on earth has happened to you?” Toriel sighed in a motherly way which said ‘I’m disappointed that you clearly just woke up but I love you anyway’. “Come, let’s sit. You look like you could use some coffee.”

Sans couldn’t argue with that and followed the monster into the kitchen. 

“Well look who’s here!” Said a familiar voice. 

Turning to the kitchen table, Sans was stunned to see both Royal Scientist and Captain of the Guard sat around the wide table. 

Undyne grinned over at him, “Wasn’t expecting you to drop by.” 

“Tibia honest, that’s kinda my fault.” Sans said through his most forced grin ever. He gave Alphys a thumbs up, who returned the gesture. She looked nervous though not at the verge of tears, so something had to have been going right. 

It was then it occurred to Sans that he was intruding on their individual assessment time. Finding a clock on the wall revealed that his lazy bones was two and a half hours late for his appointment. Incredible. 

Laughing, Undyne pointed down at his lower half, “Dude, did a Moldsmal get too chummy with you or somethin’?” 

Without hesitation, Sans moved to grab a cloth from the sink to remove the alien looking mess which clung to his leg. “Papyrus made porridge.” He said simply.

Alphys nodded in understanding while Undyne laughed. “Sweet.”

“I like the shirt.” Alphys grinned over. 

“Thanks,” Sans laughed, trying to play off how uncomfortable he felt. “My bro hates it. Reminds me it’s distasteful every time he sees it.” He balanced on one leg, trying to wipe away the porridge before it hardened into cement and Sans needed to excavate his bones out of it with a chisel.

It was at this moment that Sans noticed that he was the only one not in formal dress. All three others wore their official royal garb, only usually pulled out for formal or special occasion. For both Undyne and the Queen, this consisted of decorative armour. The kind not hugely effective in battle but it looked cool as heck and came with a cape. Toriel’s of course, slightly more regal looking.  
Alphys’ was more like a glorified lab coat, made of some fine material and embroidered with all sorts of elaborate decoration worn with a plain sweater underneath. 

Hidden away in his room somewhere, Sans kept something of a similar calibre. A garment he had tried on once, checking the fitting was correct and never worn again. This was probably the most formal meeting his position had ever called for. Asgore had never been big on formality. 

With his shoe laces done up and a hot mug in his hand, Sans looked awkwardly around the room. The others clearly wondering the same thing- why and for how long would he be interrupting their meeting? 

With everyone’s mugs refilled, Toriel sat herself beside Undyne and gestured to the chair beside Alphys for Sans to take. 

Speaking up again, Undyne asked, “So, we going on break while Sans stops for tea?” 

“No, not at all. Alphys you are more than welcome to continue.” Toriel replied in a calm tone. “As I was saying earlier, I want to work on breaking down the barriers of secrets between those in high positions of power and where they stand to the public. Under Asgore, there were too many of these secrets and they’ve gotten us nowhere.” 

Alphys nodded, realising her prompt to continue with whatever she had been doing. “It’s ok, Sans used t-to work in the labs with me. We were both apprentices under t-the old Royal Scientist, so he probably knows more than I do.” She joked, noticing the scrutinising steely gaze Undyne held upon the Skeleton. Presumably for intruding on their private matters.

“What can I say, I was there _periodically.”_ Sans shrugged, noting how the only one to not even slightly smile at his joke was Undyne. 

Over the next half an hour, Alphys presented a series of papers detailing experiments both new and old. Research topics, their relevance and ethics- clearly specifics Toriel was eager to know of. To Sans’ surprise, the Determination experiments were listed, though the details were significantly cut back on. Warped to give a much tamer view of the research. Sans wondered what else had been given a censored version from the few things he was unfamiliar with. 

Alphys took them through the old staffing of the lab and how they had depleted so drastically through the years. While trying to give a decent explanation of this reason, Alphys grew jittery, stumbling over her words as she explained how the facilities over at the University were much more up to date. How there had been a drop in the number of youngsters wanting to pursue the sciences and those who did fancied teaching, more than research and experimentation in the lab. It was at this moment that Sans became aware of how the lizard monster had been speaking in such a clear steady flow. The scientist was dealing with this shockingly well. 

Over the course of the time spent chatting about his favourite subject, Sans felt himself relax also. Before long he was comfortable, in the presence of friends who he knew wouldn’t care less that he showed up in his pyjamas. Despite the formality and the serious talk, they were just four pals. Who could beat that?

One issue rang out in his head. Sans was getting the impression from what he had seen so far that his review would also be witnessed by Alphys and Undyne. He had not tracked facts and figures of every visit to the Judgment Hall over the past however many years he had been Judge. Nor had he brought a folder of paperwork like both Scientist and seemingly also the Captain had done, judging by the large bag beside her chair with various papers jutting untidily out.

Sans did what he did best- chill out and try not to think about any of those potential problems. 

With a brief conclusion, Alphys left questions open. The queen asked a few, all technical and about the running of the place, getting the Scientist to go over the lack of staffing again. Undyne asked the meaning of a funny sounding word she had picked up.  
And with that, Alphys was done. She sighed in relief, packing her papers neatly back into her bag. Undyne offered a reassuring fist bump. 

“You can relax now Alphys, your part is over now.” Toriel smiled. “Now Sans.”

He shuffled in his seat, “Yeah, sorry again about being late. You want me to come back in a few days, when ya’ got time?” 

“Oh, not at all. Undyne had her reports to give us earlier, I can hand a copy of what was discussed to you later, to keep you in the know. Then we had some breakfast and started with Alphys. You didn’t find us too far into that. It wasn’t like I really planned an exact running order, so long as everything got done.” The Queen reassured, pushing a plate of biscuits Sans’ way. 

The cogs seemed to be turning in Undyne’s head, given the scrutinising look she gave him. Alphys just seemed too relieved that her segment was done, she could care less about what the others around her were up to. The lizard grabbed a biscuit and slid back in her chair, seemingly deflating.  
Following Toriel, they all rose from their seats. “Leave your bag here, Alphys, you won’t need it for a while.” She called behind her as they left the warm house. Walking along the lengthy stone halls of the castle. 

“W-where are we going- if it’s o-ok to ask?” The scientist asked. 

Toriel hummed a laugh, “We are going to the Judgment Hall next.” 

The lizard squeaked, “T-to be j-j-judged?!” 

“Not unless you want to, I suppose, we were just going to meet him.” She replied. 

Sans subtly gave the Queen a questioning smile, which was quickly returned with a grin. Oh, she knew what she was doing. Toriel was setting this up for a dramatic reveal and Sans would absolutely play along with it. 

Feeling the pull of the crystal’s energy, the group walked through the invisible magical barrier at the rooms entrance. Cast in varying shades of yellows, the hall lay before them, vast and quiet. Sans followed Toriels eyes as they plotted the details of the room. Tracing the lines of cracks which spanned the tiled floor, crawled up pillars and sliced into the tall ceiling. 

“Haven’t been here in quite some time.” Toriel mused in a half whisper.

Alphys murmured in agreement. Undyne however stared down at Sans with her sharp one- eyed stare.  
“You? Don’t tell me it’s you?” The warrior asked, half laughing. 

Sans blinked, “Um, ta- daa!” He wiggled his fingers as if appearing in a flash. 

The Queen’s smile dropped fractionally. “Oh, I was hoping for more of a surprise. I got the idea when you didn’t arrive in your uniform. I had a knock knock joke lined up and everything.” 

“You can still use it.” Sans offered.

Toriel shuffled her cape, “No, I think the moment has passed.” 

Undyne snorted. Not out of humour but more disbelief to a nasty surprise. She stood quite still, as if turned to stone in an instant.

Alphys took a minute to react to what she was witnessing. Blinking and looking between the others in the room. At a loss for words, a stream of unintelligible sounds emitted from the lizard as she seemed to twitch in incomprehension. “What? No?!” She laughed, “You had me t-there, got me real good!” She laughed, hard and fake, still trying to catch onto some ridiculous joke. 

“Meet your Royal Judge.” Toriel smiled, placing a hand on Sans’ shoulder, which she had to bend to reach. 

Sans winked, “Hey.”

Alphys’ hysterical laughter stopped abruptly, “Ya not kidding?!”

Undyne, stuttering back into motion looked desperately confused. “Your Highness, I appreciate that you and Sans have been friends for some time, but I… Do you… Do you even know him? I don’t think I could think of someone less suited for any authoritative position, let alone… I thought you would be above giving such a role to merely a friend. If you would pardon me saying.”

Beside her, Alphys rubbed her hands together anxiously at such a display of brutal honesty. 

“Oh, err. I’ve been doing this for years now, like, nearly a decade. Sorry Undyne.” Sans shrugged. He turned back to the goat monster, “I dunno what you want me to do, Tori. Hope you don’t want too many facts and figures.” 

Not saying another word, Undyne surveyed the scene. Curiosity calling to know how this situation would play out. 

“We’ll get to that in a moment.” Toriel said, scratching at a mark on her silver gauntlet. “Asgore was the only one to know of you holding this position, before myself, correct?” 

“You could say that.” Sans said holding her gaze. She was half right. Asgore and of course Grillby, who seemed to know all of Sans’ secrets. Not that the skeleton minded, he was totally confident that the elemental was no snitch.

“Indeed. Moving forwards, as I assume you have all realised, I would like our court to be much more transparent. Especially with each other. I appreciate that the public cannot know everything, including the identity of the Judge, but between each other I would wish for as few secrets as possible.” The goat monster spoke with confidence. 

So long as the public were kept out of the loop, Sans was fine. Though her loose tongue could be a problem, Alphys could be trusted. Undyne was slightly more worrisome, considering her dislike of Sans and closeness to his brother, it put her in a difficult position. Thanks to the Resets, the skeleton had seen Undyne at her worst, he knew her spite; how her ideals of justice could warp into revenge. At the same time, the Guard defiantly kept secrets, both of past and present. Undyne held all of those and it wasn’t like she was divulging any and all information to Papyrus, was it. This was different though, much more personal. Sans didn’t care, so long as his brother didn’t know. 

Sans nodded in agreement, along with Alphys and eventually Undyne, who at this point seemed like she was along for the ride.

“Thank you for understanding. I can assure that this information will be shared with only the most relevant of people.” Toriel said. Whether this was directed at Sans specifically or to the group in general, Sans was unsure. Already, however, he was starting to notice holes in the Queen’s plans. A secret was much harder to keep when it was already shared between a whole room of people, and whoever was deemed to be a ‘relevant person’.

Toriel continued, “So roughly how many people come by here, weekly?” 

Thinking for a moment, Sans replied, “Around six to fifteen. It changes depending on the state of the Underground. If we’ve had bad news, people seem to remember this place exists. Equally there can be dry periods between that kind of thing. It sorta depends on public mood, mostly.” Shoving his hands in the pockets of his shorts, Sans could not remember discussing this topic before with anyone, not even Asgore had seemed entirely bothered with the running of the hall, aside from the odd ‘Everything going ok?’ over a cup of tea.  
“Most monsters usually visit every couple of years. Some once in their entire lives, some every few months, some never.” 

Seeming satisfied with this answer, Toriel hummed in response. “And what do you say to them exactly?” 

He blinked slowly, all sorts, really, that was the unsatisfying answer. “Advice, encouragement. Anything like that.” A sound like snickering came from the direction of the other two, Sans did not look to see who it had come from. 

“Is that all?” Said Toriel.

“I try not to have too much of an opinion. I see their souls, not their life story. I might be the Judge, but I don’t, you know, judge them.” He grinned.

“Do you know of any other soul see’rs other than yourself?” She asked. 

Sans shook his head. “As far as I know, I’m the only one at the moment. I always keep an eye out. Be happy to train someone up if I could.” He said truthfully, positive that he was indeed alone in his ability. Afterall, anyone seeing his soul would have a hard time hiding their reaction. 

“That is fair.” She nodded, “And how many executions have you made?” Toriel asked with slightly less enthusiasm.

 _Oh good, everyone’s favourite subject._ Sans thought for a moment, avoiding the looks that he knew Alphys and Undyne were defiantly giving him in their silence. “Not many. ‘Bout one in every two hundred, as an average.” Given the trouble with repeating timelines, this was nothing more than an educated guess. 

“I understand. Have you ever kept any exact records of your work here?” Toriel challenged, with an odd look on her face. It was hard to place though most likely stemmed from revulsion at having monsters die at the whim of one person in her court, just down the hall from where she resided in her castle. 

Sans shook his head once more. “Never, sorry.”

“Hang on.” Undyne suddenly spoke up loudly from behind, “How can you know any of those numbers are correct? I know you, Sans, ya can’t even be bothered to walk a minute down your road to work. When you can be bothered to leave the house, it’s for that illegal hotdog stand- And ya can’t even stay there for long without falling asleep! I’ve been looking for a reason to fire you for at least the last six months. If it wouldn’t directly upset Papyrus, you’d have been gone ages ago. How am I to believe you make it all the way here _several times a week?_ ” 

Sans flashed a grin as he turned to address her. “Good question. I can teleport.” 

_“What?”_ The Captain asked, her face twisting. 

“Yeah, watch.” In an instant, Sans blinked to the other end of the hallway. The others looked stunned, apart from Alphys, who was suppressing a laugh. From down the hall he yelled, “What’s a scientist’s favourite keyboard key?” 

The others mumbled, not really expecting a joke.

“C’mon, I’m not coming back until one of you gets it!” Sans called. The sound reverberating around the walls.

Alphys rose her hand, “Oh, the space bar!” 

In a blink, Sans was back with them, high-fiving his lizard friend. 

Toriel placed her hands on her hips, “Can’t say I was expecting that.”

“How the hell do you do that, Papyrus has never mentioned…” Undyne trailed off.

“Yeah, he doesn’t know. It’s a kinda depressing story how it happened, actually. I had the idea we could teleport above ground using an artificial magic construct. Tried it out on myself, as we did back in the labs. Turns out, it doesn’t work. It’s a good shortcut to places though, once I’ve mapped them out... It’s kinda complicated.” Alphys hissed a giggle.  
“Also, I figured out the gems decorating the door frame could store magic. So, I got them to react whenever anyone passes through the archway. It calls my magic, wherever I am. So I always know when a monster needs me.” Sans said with a certain amount of pride at the reliability of his system. This only swelled at Undyne’s shocked but slightly impressed expression. Toriel’s magic field gave away a similar feeling. 

“Nice.” Commented Alphys, who looked much more at ease now.

Unfortunately, the feeling did not persist as Undyne had another opinion to voice. “While I understand the significance of what the Judge does here, in regards to our culture; I still hate the idea that there is someone free to execute with no control or second opinion.” 

“Undyne reflects my own thoughts.” Toriel said sadly. 

“Isn’t that kind of the point though?” Sans asked, “People fear the consequences and therefore stay in line. This very subject has been debated for centuries and, whether changes have been made or not, it’s always ended up going back to this method. It works best.”

Toriel huffed, “That’s the point I’m concerned about- keeping people in line with fear tactics. It’s just not the way I want our society to be.” 

Sans noticed how Undyne tensed. This was clearly touching the boarder of reasons the warrior had trouble getting along with the new Queen and the changes she wanted to make. A conflict of ideals, mostly. 

There was quiet between the group, as they all seemed to search for somewhere to go from here.

“I h-have a suggestion.” Alphys squeaked. “What if Sans w-works with the Guard. I mean I know you do already, sort of, but I mean, umm… People of interest, statistics, I think t-there would be a lot you could share.” 

The suggestion was a decent one. It would require Sans to do more work, which was a truly detestable thought, but at least he would keep his position.

“It was only an idea, s-sorry it’s not-.” Alphys interrupted the silence.

Undyne caught her, “No, Alph, that’s not a bad thought.” 

“It could work.” Toriel agreed.

The scientist blinked, “Really?” 

“I mean, sure. Then you guys can bone up on the facts.” Sans reluctantly agreed.

The Queen continued, “Yes, we can figure out how that could work in the near future. For now, however,” She gave a long sigh, “I believe I must ask to see your soul, Sans. If this is truly to be an arrangement built on trust.”

And there it was, the request he had been dreading. He knew this was inescapable, Sans had just been desperately pushing the idea out of his head. He toyed with fabric of his pockets. “I don’t suppose I can decline this one can I?” 

Toriel gave an apologetic look but it was Undyne who spoke. “No.” She spat firmly. 

Sans looked at each of them. He was cornered in this. “Ok.” He spoke slowly, as if he hoped they would suddenly lose interest and jump subject or go home. “So, to preface this, umm. A while back a timeline, well, pretty much collapsed on me and since then my stats have been sort of a mess. I might need to do a skeleton of explaining, but I can.” He laughed.

Undyne coughed impatiently. 

“Ok, ok. Just… ok.” His magic curled nervously. Drawing a hand out of its pocket, Sans pulled the tiny heart from his chest, which sat floating at his fingertips. A chill swept over him, either from the exposure or feeling self-conscious.

The tiny thing pulsed faintly, blue and littered with delicate cracks along the surface- none too substantial to be life-threatening. A buzz filled him as the others all set about analysing the centre of his being. 

Alphys made a strangled noise, like something had caught in her throat and it took all of Sans’ will not to throw the soul back into its place behind his ribcage and leave immediately. 

“What the hell?” Undyne croaked. 

Finally lifting his eyes, Sans looked up to Toriel. The goat stood silently, the look on her face was distinctly difficult to read, she looked utterly confused. 

One HP, poor attack power, over twelve and a half thousand ExP and thirteen Levels of Violence which swam in the tiny soul like a vile cancer. No lies could save him, is soul was visible, emotions laid on the table for them all to read.  
“Judging by your faces, I say some explaining is in order.” He gritted out. The feeling of their horror sitting openly in the air.

Undyne hissed, fists clenched. An aggressive curl of magic winding its way like a viper around the group. “Yeah, an’ it better be good. That’s enough violence to have killed everyone in the Underground twice over.” 

“What did you say the average amount of monsters you’ve executed was, Sans?” Toriel coughed. 

“Yeah, don’t get your flippers in a twist.” Sans huffed, shooting a glare at Undyne. 

He set about explaining as much as he could, whatever was easy for the others to understand and wouldn’t risk getting him into further trouble. The basic theory of Resets, which everyone had at least heard of. The human as the anomaly. Their increasing violence during previous timelines. Sans being, to his knowledge, the only one who retained memories while everyone else’s were erased. 

Sans was incredibly grateful when Alphys piped up, helping to explain. Her input seemed to shock Undyne, who up until this point had clearly thought the story was some ridiculous work of fantasy or the twisted delusion of a psychopath. Toriel’s reactions were the most interesting to Sans. The last thing she had expected was mention of the human. The one she had made him promise to protect.

“I always let them through to see Asgore, regardless of what they’d done. Except one time. They went too far, killed everyone.” Sans said, keeping his nerve. Talking about it was easier if he kept it vague. 

“Everyone?” Asked Undyne, who had turned from anger to confusion. “You tellin’ me that kid _killed me?_ ” She laughed. 

Sans gave her another sharp look which said ‘Did I stutter?’. He couldn’t lie that the Captain was starting to get on his nerves.

Alphys poked a claw into the air before speaking, “Remember how y-you couldn’t hit them even once? Like they knew e-exactly what you would do? You told me that the next day. It wasn’t just you, t-they did that with everyone.”

This struck a chord with the Queen, also. She stared off down the tiled hall in silence, as if she was connecting her own pieces together. 

Going back to his story, Sans continued, “We fought, I wouldn’t let um’ pass. Things replayed a lot. I think it was time constantly repeating with the same conclusion that eventually everything started to collapse. By everything, I mean time itself. Heh, I had to watch out, or I’d be out of time.” He said as an incredibly brief overview. Sans had to hold his ground here, it wasn’t the place or time to get emotional. Despite this, he had the suspicion that with his soul exposed, all of that was raw and bare, regardless of how he made himself appear calm. 

Alphys tilted her head, “Collapse? B-but how? How long were you stuck there?” Her eyes widening as she realised the scale of what that would take.

“A while. You could say I wasn’t having the time of my life.” Whatever the joke was fell flat, the others seemed to be waiting on the conclusion to the explanation. Sans pointed to the fine cracks which littered the room, “See those? That’s where everything split open. It opened into just nothing, blackness. Like a void. To put it briefly, things got a little weird. We managed to eventually come to an agreement that they would Reset and leave. They Reset into this timeline and actually left, which I didn’t expect.” He chuckled, “I don’t think the pissed off timeline did any real damage, now we’re out of it. I kept my stats and the kid seemed weirdly off beat. I’m guessing that was the only permanent damage. But that’s what time does when its hungry, it goes back four seconds.” 

Alphys seemed deep in thought, her eyes darted about while she silently mouthed whatever she attempted to decipher. Toriel and Undyne continued to look at Sans expectantly. 

“That’s it. Umm, the end.” Sans looked up at Toriel and pointed to his soul, “Can I?” 

Upon her nod, Sans waited no time in flicking the little life force back to him. He finally breathed again, a suffocating feeling he hadn’t even noticed setting in, vanished. 

The silence was broken by Undyne, snorting with laughter, “You’re lying.”

His skull twisted in an incredulous look. Motioning to where his soul had just been floating. “ _Really?_ I literally couldn’t have done.” 

Alphys gave her girlfriend an apologetic look, “It’s the truth, its g-gotta be.” 

“I know it sucks.” Sans said, not quite knowing which aspect he was referring to, not that it mattered, everything seemed to suck in equal measure. “Is that it? Can I go?” He said to Toriel, more pleadingly than planned. 

The Queen looked as Sans felt- exasperated and tired. She regarded him for a moment, in thought. The second she opened her mouth, she was interrupted by Undyne.

“Oh no, we’re not done.” She hissed, “Ya messed up, everything about this is messed up, that’s what it is. You’re a violent monster and ya can’t prove anything you just said, the truth can be twisted. Whatever the circumstances, you’ve killed people and felt nothing for it. Now ya sitting here in self-pity like we’re about to look the other way. It’s sickening.” She stepped forward, glaring down at him. “There is a law which goes with the Royal Judge- If a monster’s lack of empathy has or will lead them to cause major destruction, then the Judge has the power to execute. Be that me, the King or Queen; all are on equal footing in that aspect. Its called justice and this extends to the Judge themselves. If they are befitting of execution by that criteria, they themselves must be eradicated and replaced.” She sneered. 

Sans reacted to the lash of aggressive magic, he stepped back, pulling a hand from his pocket and adjusting the neck line of his shirt. “That is correct. I won’t deny it felt good to give the kid what they deserved, but to suggest I have no empathy is going a little far.” His grin darkened to something that mirrored her threat, “I’m not asking for pity.” There was a shuffle of yellow from Alphys but Sans was fixed on the potential threat looming over him. 

Undyne flashed her shark-like teeth in a snarl, “You could have killed the human, you could have protected the King. You had a duty and you neglected it. Asgore died because of you.” She said slowly, as if this realisation angered her the most, above all else. 

“Please, Undyne.” Said Toriel, gently.

The Queen was ignored and another threatening step was taken towards Sans, who held his ground. A deadly flash crossed the warrior’s eye, “You could have saved us. You let our only hope just walk away. You could have saved everyone!” Undyne cried.

In an instant, the shadows of the room were illuminated by magic as Undyne drew a spear and charged for Sans.

 

Footnote:  
Sans’ stats- I had no idea of the exact number to give him, EXP wise, so I did some research. The number is derived from the highest amount of ExP you can possibly earn in the game. The exact amount it 12,754. This excludes the Mettaton fight, which gives you between 10,000 – 15,000 in one go. Meaning the true highest amount, you can get is 22,754. We are never given Exp for Sans, just a level gain to Lv20, so we cant count him. Mettaton is a bit of an odd one out so I decided to exclude his number. (Source: A random Reddit post which I found fascinating to read.)

For this whole thing I wanted there to be a separation between 'level of violence' and 'execution points', as two somewhat separate things which are not necessarily joined (I don't remember if this was the case in the game). This between It brings into question the distinction of what a fair, just kill would count as, as far as discerning Execution from Violence. Although, Sans’ message at the end of the game is ‘the more you kill, the more comfortable you become with violence. (regardless of the means, I guess)’.  
I think that the interesting thig with Sans, is despite being hopelessly bored and being dragged along for all of their resets, his sense of justice has not been skewed. For insance, only in the most extreme case does he break his promise to Toriel.  
That Lv 13 has not come from him toying with others, which was what Frisk and Flowey were drawn to. It is rather, once again, a product of their damage.  
I hope that made a tiny bit of scense. (Im trying to have the story explain about this timeline crap as best I can, at the moment. Unfortunatly, this is awkward with how Sans neither enjoys the subject, nor understands it fully. We'll get to it later though, like every damn bit of plot set up. (Every. Damn. Bit.))

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.


	15. Throwdown

Sans stood his ground as the light of Undyne’s energy spear split the midday shadows. 

The Judgment hall’s silence was disturbed by the sliding of the Captain’s ornamental armour as she rose the weapon level with the skeleton’s head.

Alphys gasped, desperately trying to assess the situation, to see if her friends were actually planning on throwing blows. “Undyne, no! Sans h-has low HP, that’s not fair!” She pleaded.

“That’s kinda what I’m interested in.” Undyne hissed, “How the hell have you managed to get this far?”

Sans didn’t reply. He watched closely for any sign of a strike. Fighting Undyne was not only a dangerous game but something he generally wasn’t too interested in doing. Despite this a need for self-preservation seemed to kick in, compelling his bones to stay ridged, coiled and waiting. The two had thrown challenges at each other frequently over the years and Sans was aware of the one-sided dislike she held against him. This was utterly different to the punches that had always threatened to be thrown before, that was just big talk, play fighting. 

“Undyne, please.” Toriel attempted once more, “We can sort this out in a more civilised way.”

“Or we can sort this out the monster way.” Undyne said. With a shrug of her shoulders, her soul appeared in front of her armour. 

“I’d rather we didn’t. I feel there is a time and _plaice_ for these things.” Sans sighed, as he mimicked the motion, his own significantly smaller soul making its second appearance of the day. “But if you insist on throwing the gauntlet...” 

“O-oh God, please don’t!” Alphys shrilly squealed. Sans saw her quiver just out of his vision. 

He was reasonably surprised that Toriel had not stepped in beyond a few words. Perhaps the Queen was quietly siding with Undyne, looking for justice for the acts the Judge had committed. 

The two stared each other down for long seconds. In a flash, Undyne lunged. 

Reeling back her spear, she charged forwards. Sans stepping back to shortcut a better distance from his attacker. This decision only bought him a second more thanks to Undyne’s far greater height and speed as she blazed down the hall after him. 

In a second flash, the warrior’s soul was turned blue and she was flung from her course up into one of the pillars. 

With remarkable reflexes, Undyne seemed to right herself in the air like a cat and landed steadily on the pillar. She gripped tightly to the ridges of the surface, holding herself in place. A grin spit across her face, a hunter by nature as she locked onto her prey.   
Undyne’s eye glinted and Sans felt a buzz as his soul responded. Its mild blue turning an acid green, a similar colour to his foe’s own. The sensation was strange, his soul resonated with Undyne’s magic, calling to it like a homing beacon. 

In a thrust, the spear the Captain held flew to the ceiling and burst into many needle-like strands of light. Sans grimaced in recognition of this trick. Like a magnet, each magic fragment arced in the air and flew straight for Sans’ soul. 

Summoning a barrage of bone attacks, they fired into the onslaught of missiles, colliding and fizzing out both attacks if they managed to hit. There was little co-ordination to Sans’ attacks as he fired what he could to stop her magic. With a flick in a last second block, the last needles of light were doused. 

Grabbing her once more with blue energy, Undyne was thrown into the space of the centre of the room. Skilfully, she moved with the motion, preparing to catch herself on the opposite pillar. Halfway through the air, Sans swapped her direction, slamming her in a blur of blue and silver into the tiled floor. Armour clattering painfully onto the stone. 

In a wave, a stream of bones flew at her not even a second after she landed in a heap. 

In a tactic similar to his own, Undyne released a flurry of magic to nullify Sans’ bone attacks. Sans kept them coming until he needed a moment to recover his magic from the output. The warrior rolled and pushed herself back to her feet in a brilliant recovery, out of the way of the flurry. 

Alphys shouted something from the other end of the hall, the reverberation and his own lack of attention failed to translate her words. Undyne did not react either, the intricate armour of her shoulder was dented inwards, warped oddly around one of her legs also. 

“Pfft, come on Undyne, _eel_ just be snoozing over here waiting for the reel fight to start.” Sans taunted against his better judgment. She grinned in response, materialising a spear ready for her next attack. 

In a great display of control, Undyne filled the air around them with the same shining bullets, released them in Sans’ direction and dashed forwards towards him. Sans sidestepped and teleported, narrowly missing the darts, they rounded in the air, attempting to catch him out. A thud of footsteps and Undyne was baring down on him, slashing with the spear she wielded. Barely dodging in time, he shot a line of attacks which smashed into Undyne’s legs, sending her off course. 

Predicting the direction of her stumble, he pooled magic onto the sunlit floor. A ring of long thin bones spiked up from the tiles, catching Undyne once more. She grunted as a particularly hard hitting one slamming into her shin, tearing the metal with the force of the impact. Needing to roll once more to recover.

“Not bad, smart ass.” She sneered, before flinching back with a gasp. Undyne looked down in confusion at where a couple of Sans attacks had mashed through her armour. 

“Oh yeah, some of the crystals I use in this place have a lifedraining effect.” He winked. “You were wondering how I get around my poor stats. I just break the rules.” 

A buzz just behind his head and Sans only just dodged a shot from behind. Flinging up a wall of bones he protected himself from the oncoming volley of bolts. 

“Ya talk too much.” Undyne said from behind him. 

Blocking her last few shots, Sans couldn’t react quick enough when a foot slammed into his back. The impact to his shoulder blade making his left arm go strangely limp. Unable to properly brake his fall, Sans fell hard onto the floor.

“Stop it you two!” Alphys yelled from somewhere. 

Neither listened as Sans attempted to sit up, managing to at least turn to face his attacker. Undyne approached again, seizing the delicate vertebrae of his neck and pinned him to the ground with a thud. Cyan light flared from Sans eye and in panic, pulled forth a massive blaster head to the pair’s side. Undyne noticed it a second before it fired. In a screech, white hot light shot towards them. 

Undyne released Sans and dove for the ground as the blast ripped overhead. The skeleton shielded his face from the heat of the beam. He scrambled back to his feet the moment the stream ended. Bewildered, Undyne looked about for any more attacks of that nature. Her hair was scorched, cape almost totally vaporised. The armour on her back was partly melting at the surface, the delicate designs distorted from the heat. Sans quietly hoped he hadn’t done her any real damage with the blast, as he grabbed her once again with blue energy and slammed the Captain back into the ground when she tried to rise. 

Sans was already pretty tired, this was the most he had exerted himself since… it must have been his fight (or many fights) with the human. He couldn’t lie, it was nice to give his magic an aggressive outlet. “Ok, you ready to pack this up now? I’m kinda hungry and I don’t think it would be fun to have to tell Papyrus that you’ve killed me.”

Undyne struggled against the magic holding her down, managing to support her upper half with quivering arms. “You don’t deserve him.” She said through gritted teeth. 

“I know.” Sans said. 

The returning feeling of his soul being targeted caused a sudden intake of breath. With a burst of light above Undyne the hall was filled with a shower of energy. Many more needle-like bolts than before. They hovered in the air still, before shuddering and darting towards him. 

Shortcutting to the opposite end of the hall, the mass torrent of arrows changed their trajectory and zoomed towards Sans’ new location. Some shot like lightning while others curled and spiralled through the air in unpredictable patterns. Pulling out all the stops, Sans summoned a blaster which ripped through a mass of bullets with a wide beam of light, four layers of bones from the ground to block escaping shots and a separate barrage raining down from above.   
Throwing up more defences, Sans noticed yellow magic bullets zapping the odd stray arrow from the air in a sizzle of static. Alphys was helping nearby. 

With the sound of larger shots colliding into his defences, Sans ducked to the right just in time to miss being cleaved in two by a slash from Undyne, who had apparently once again barrelled down the length of the hall in only seconds.

He flicked his wrist and a bone jammed into her side.

Without flinching, Undyne made another swipe.

It sliced the fabric of his shirt, millimetres from striking bone.

A flame slammed into the floor at Undyne’s feet, sending her stumbling back.

“That’s enough!” Toriel called firmly. 

Her presence seemed to sober Sans. His soul still pounding with adrenaline. 

Undyne shot her a look of malice, before turning her wicked smile back to Sans. Obvious she hadn’t had enough yet. 

Before the Captain could make a single move towards him, Sans summoned another horrific blaster skull to his side. 

Instantly, Undyne moved back, on the defensive. Not wanting to meet the full force of any oncoming attack from the thing, she skirted back, prowling around to his side. More of the skulls materialised, matching her movement, though none fired, a threat and nothing more. She seemed to recognise this and slowed her movement.

Sans sighed, as the situation seemed to calm. Toriel approached with Alphys at her heels, the ends of her lab coat dragging along the floor after her.   
Toriel coughed, “Sans, if you please.”

The blaster skulls dematerialised. The energy seeping back to him.

Huffing, the Queen held her hands on her hips, “Now that we’re done acting like-.”

Light burst before them and Undyne lunged once more. Alphys squeaked in alarm.

Caught shamefully off guard, Sans called upon an older trick of his. His eye flashed, a deep blue enveloped them. Undyne was grabbed with his power and held still, just far enough that her energy spears could not reach. A bubble of blue formed and seemed to solidify around the two. Attacks within the strange mass fizzled out and Undyne gasped, a sound which suddenly cut off. 

Alphys and Toriel stood just outside the perimeter. Both spoke, though no sound made it to Sans. All was totally silent. As he pulled the field inward, Undyne, trapped, seemed to go from angry thrashing to shock. She clawed at her chest and throat, unable to breath. 

The gravity crushed inward still. Though Sans had the privilege of not strictly needing to breath, his bones shook under the pressure of the strange space. 

Time moved very slowly.

Alphys looked like she was screaming now.

Undyne’s soul was beating faster than was probably normal. Her HP dropping away very gradually. 

Perfectly silent. More so than his room in the middle of the night, or the forest in the early morning. 

Sans quaked with the effort of keeping up the pressure. 

She was totally at his mercy, Sans could kill her any way he wanted now. As Undyne slowly lost consciousness, Sans contemplated. He could impale the fierce hunter on one of his many attacks, watch the life draining agent slowly do its work. Would he watch her suffocate or end her in an instant with a vaporising beam? 

One of her arms dropped to her side. 

That was enough.

With a shudder, Sans dispelled the magic. Like being lifted from water, sound rushed back to him along with a weightless feeling, like his frail body had just weighed ten tonnes more than usual. The crushing silence had been oddly pleasant and at the sound of shouting, immediately missed it. 

Undyne gasped in air as Sans lowered her gently onto her knees with his magic before dispelling it all. It curled back inside his chest along with his soul. The intent to carry on had diminished on both sides. The fight was over.

Alphys wasted no time. She sprinted to slightly delirious Undyne’s side. The Scientist checked her friend’s HP and immediately relaxed. Not enough damage to warrant worrying. 

Undyne began to steady her breathing, her senses coming back to her. Pulling her soul back to her, she looked quite well considering being barely alive a few seconds ago. Her recovery time was quite extraordinary, though she swayed where she sat. “Hey. A-Alph.” Undyne wheezed, “Pretty c-cool w-wasn’t-.” 

**“What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!”** The Captain’s croaking was cut short by Alphys. Her voice heightening a few pitches in fury. 

Undyne’s fins drooped in dismay.

“What were you-? How? I jus- What?” Alphys stammered, seemingly unable to process her feelings into speech. 

“Oh, c’mon Alph.” Undyne tried again.

“No. no no _no!_ That was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen!” the lizard jabbed a finger at Sans. “And you weren’t much better!”

That was acceptable. Sans exchanged a look with Toriel, who stood beside the group. If her raised eyebrows were anything to go by, it seemed her Royal Scientist was doing all of the reprimanding for her. 

A few more of Undyne’s attempts to argue back were again thwarted by her angry partner. Eventually Alphys huffed, “I could slap you but I’m a better monster than that!” She shouted, turning on her heels, nearly tripping on her lab coat and marching towards the door. 

“Yes, well I suppose that will be all.” Toriel said at last, “Thank you for your time, I will be in touch with you all over the next few days.” The goat monster turned and gave Sans a look that was totally unreadable. 

He was tired, no, exhausted after that. Sans was starting to wish he hadn’t gotten out of bed this morning when Alphys called from the hallway door.   
“Sans, I’m leaving now, can I get a lift?” 

He nodded and hurried after her. Swaying as the feeling of weightlessness coupled a stiff grinding of his joints, Sans had to catch himself from stumbling. He shook it off, sparing one final look back at the others. Undyne’s mouth was agape while Toriel watched him leave with the same strange narrow eyed look. 

The pair walked back to collect the massive folder of documents Alphys had presented to the group. Sans was dizzy, he said no word to the Scientist, who walked several paces in front, looking exasperated. 

 

Alphys’ mood seemed to lighten when they reached the door of her lab. The warmth of the nearby lava made the air unpleasantly stuffy but it seemed to calm the Scientist. She insisted on him staying for tea, which Sans gave into remarkably quickly. 

“More ice cream?” Alphys asked, not looking from the television. She had switched to pyjamas the moment they had arrived back, the elaborately decorated Royal Scientist’s coat was thrown haphazardly over her computer chair. 

Sans sat beside her on the sofa. “No thanks.” 

The room was dark, food wrappers and empty bowls were illuminated by the light of the screen in front of them. The pair had said very little to one another through the first episode of awful daytime television. Alphys’ phone had buzzed numerous times since they returned home, all of which she had ignored.

“That was a mess, wasn’t it.” The lizard sighed. Under the light of the TV, she looked truly miserable. Her glasses reflected the vague images of some monster on screen giving an explanation of how the cliffside apartments in New Home had been built. 

The statement couldn’t be more truthful. Now they had been sat around for a while, the reality of what had transpired was sinking in. Sans was very lucky to still be alive, if not from Undyne’s assault but from being ruled unfit to live with stats like his. It was a real possibility that Toriel could (and should) have allowed Undyne to execute him. The Queen still could, she had every power to still decide on his fate. Honestly, if asked, Sans would judge himself as unworthy, by his own standards. 

On top of that, by taking Undyne’s bait, he had proven to them that he was the untrustworthy monster they had feared he would be. This was such a mess. Papyrus would probably know all of this by the end of the day, thanks to the Captain’s anger. Sans could only imagine the disappointed look on his brother’s face the moment he walked through the door. 

He didn’t need to go home; Grillby would be ok to let him crash for a day or two…

Damn, that was another thing he’d messed up. Sans added ‘apologise to Grillby’ to his mental to-do list. The elemental had only been trying to help last night, Sans had no reason to have gotten quite so angry at his friend. Grillby had no reason to care after the way Sans had spoken to him. 

He’d truly gotten into a terrible mess. 

“I’m so sorry.” Sans sighed. He smoothed a hand across his skull, around the dark rings under one of his eye sockets. 

To his surprise, Alphys snorted a laugh, which sounded more like a sneeze. “What for? Undyne?” 

“Well.” Sans motioned to himself and around him, “Me. Everything, I guess. I really made a mess of everything.”

She returned a sad smile, “When Undyne gets worked up like that, t-there really isn’t much that can stop her. It’s that whole justice thing she h-has going.” 

“Not just that. Your review was great. It was interesting and even Tori couldn’t find much to say.” Sans said. 

Alphys rolled her eyes, “Oh, just wait until shes thought about it all properly. Mine had a bunch o-of inconsistencies which I hope she doesn’t notice.” She huffed another humourless laugh, “You aren’t the only one who was trying to hide stuff.” 

“But it was all fine until I walked in!” The skeleton argued, exasperated, “Two and a half hours late, wearing… _this!_ ” Sans pointed to the terrible comedy shirt. “Break everyone’s expectations in the worst possible way. Reveal that my soul is messed up cuz of the stupid kid and then prove that I’m bad at my job and a hypocrite for not handing myself over to be judged by Tori or Undyne.”

“Weird day, huh?” Was all Alphys said before shoving a huge spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

“I guess.”

The monster on screen moved to another area of the Underground where more homes were built into the cave wall, this one in Hotlands. “You wouldn’t have killed Undyne.” The Scientist stated, looking blankly at the TV.

The idea that Alphys was arguing for his case annoyed Sans, for a reason could not work out. In the end, he merely sighed. “You don’t sound angry.”

“I’m not. Undyne can take it, heck, she lives for t-that kinda entertainment. Ya might find you two get along much b-better now.” 

Sans doubted this very much, but nodded. 

His lizard friend wrung her hands nervously, “Geez, me and Undyne h-have never fought over anything, in all the years we’ve been friends. We date for one week and look! Perhaps it was t-too soon to press the upgrade button after all.” She trailed off, staring at the screen without really watching it. 

It was Sans’ turn to laugh, “Don’t be silly. It’s just a little thing. We all know shes the only fish in the sea for you.” Sans tried to reassure. 

Alphys blushed, wringing her hands once again but saying nothing more. They returned to the show for a while longer. The electric light dancing across them as the pair sat in the darkened room. The guy on screen was getting very excited about the way the Core had been constructed as part of a rockface which descended down into lava. 

“Thanks for sticking up for me, when I was trying to explain earlier. I think you stopped them from assuming I was just some total lunatic.” Sans said, letting his eyes fall shut.

Alphys hummed a noise that seemed to say ‘It’s no big deal’.

A while of silence more and the Scientist spoke again, “Ya know, I always f-feared the Judge.”

“You did?” Sans replied. 

She nodded, “The idea that there was always someone out there who could see you for exactly who you are, despite how much you try to hide. That you were supposed to go visit the hall every so often so they could check you were still worth keeping around.” It was said in a sour tone.

“Is that why you never visited?”

She nodded once more. 

“How do you feel, knowing it’s me?” He asked.

Alphys answered quicker than Sans expected, “Better, actually. It’s weird b-but I’m happier it was a friend all along.” She seemed to wince before continuing, “I mean, you could s-still have a lot to say about me, it’s your job after all, the f-fact that we’re friends shouldn’t change your opinion of me.”

“Trust me, Alph, I have nothing bad to say about you. Maybe don’t be so hard on yourself all the time, but that’s about it.” Sans replied, mostly truthfully. 

“R-really?”

“Sure.” 

Her yellow nose twitched as Alphys sniffed, “That’s so crazy though. You. You!” She laughed, “And you’ve been the Judge for years! Hah, who knew.”

Sans couldn’t help but grin. He supposed it all was pretty amusing from her perspective, just glad Alphys didn’t seem to take his reveal as a massive negative. He was aware that he didn’t seem like the ideal one for the job, without their remarks. 

“So you must have been training f-for that while we were working together here, right? Who was your mentor?” Alphys asked.

“I was.” Sans frowned, “I don’t remember who it was though, it’s kinda weird. They taught me how to fight, how to get around having lousy stats.”

Alphys was frowning too, “You don’t remember at all? Like with a memory blocking magic? Is that a standard thing, for the old Judge to block the memories of their successor?”

It was a good question, but something Sans had never heard of. It certainly didn’t seem like magic had tampered with his perception of those very different times. He shook his head. 

The scientist gazed off into one of the dark corners of the room, in thought. “Does it feel like the memories are t-there but… just kinda not?”

He chuckled at her strange question, “Sorta? I know I can be pretty empty headed but I don’t just forget people usually.” Sans said, tapping his skull. 

“No, I mean…” Alphys sighed as she struggled to word her thoughts. “Like you remember for a second b-but then it goes and you totally lose your train of thought? Like a blanket is being thrown over what you were t-thinking about?” 

Sans cringed, “Kinda, I guess. 

Alphys pulled her phone from her pocket. Huffing at the sight of Undyne’s many ignored attempts at communication she brought up an app for note taking. “Ok, I have a theory here. I want y-you to tell me everything about when you were learning. Don’t think about it, just talk and I’ll make notes.”

“Why? You fancy it as a second career option?” Sans joked. 

Alphys shot him a serious look, “Come on, I’m n-not kidding.”

“If you insist.” Sans said, wondering what on earth she could have in mind but curious to see where this brain wave would take her. “I’d always been able to see souls. Didn’t know there was anything weird about that, I knew it wasn’t something everyone could do, but ya know, I was a kid, no one told me any differently.” Sans reshuffled on the sofa, pulling the blanket he sat under up around his arms. 

“We started as apprentices and not long after that someone noticed that we shared a ‘seeing’ ability. I started learning the ropes of being a Judge from them. He was super serious about me not joking around, but then he walked around like he had a bone to pick all the time…” Sans winced at the shooting pain in his skull. Alphys, with her eyes fixed on the phone screen, did not see him flinch. Where did that come from? Maybe the awful daytime TV was making him stupid. 

Alphys looked up to him expectantly, “Go on.” 

“What?” 

“You were telling me about being an apprentice Judge.” She prompted.

Oh yeah. A look of recognition crossed his face which changed quickly to confusion. Unable to remember the specifics, Sans looked at his friend expectantly. 

Making a few more notes on her device, Alphys said, “The ways you got around having low s-stats, tell me about that.” She looked even more intrigued than previous. 

“Um, ok. One of the projects in the lab was experimenting with types of magic. Um, someone, I don’t remember who, made a new type of artificial magic. Its purpose was to kill, without having to factor emotion into the equation.” Sans tried to let himself talk without thinking too much.

“Your blaster things, right? They were designed to help f-fight humans when we got to the surface.” Alphys chipped in. 

Sans nodded, “They were, but in the meantime, while we lacked any humans to blow up, they came in handy for me and the old Judge.” Who was the old Judge? It made no sense for him to forget like this. Sans tried to desperately think through the headache and mental fog which seemed to grow thicker the more he considered the topic.

“You ok?” Alphys asked. 

Sans blinked up at her, unsure why she looked so strangely on edge. As if he was expected to be saying something. 

She continued, “You remember what we were t-talking about?” 

Sans thought but eventually shook his head. 

“Neither do I.” Alphys admitted, sounding more serious. She held up her phone for him to read, “This is w-what we were talking about though.”

Yes, that’s right! His training as a Judge and the magic he adapted into his own to help. That was what they had been discussing, right? The more Sans thought, the less he was sure. 

“You have a headache? Feel sick?” Alphys asked in a tone very fitting of a doctor. 

“Sort of.” Sans sounded underwhelmed, not wanting to draw attention to how his head was indeed buzzing now with dizziness and discomfort. 

She nodded, jotting more notes down. “Me too.” She seemed to go through the same motions of memory cutting in and out, attempting to recall what exactly they had been discussing.   
“I mentioned previously that I’ve been n-noticing weird things around here. Things I can’t place, can’t remember seeing before or doing. Sometimes its junk I didn’t notice before, s-sometimes there are whole research papers I can’t seem to read. Like I have a block on them.” She brought up another screen to show him. A whole list of disjointed words and ideas. They reminded Sans of random branches of a mind map, the brain coughing up a hundred different loosely associated words and their associations in little time. A brainstorming activity they used when studying many years previous.  
“I’ve gotten quite good at identifying t-these ‘patterns of loose thought’, as I’ve been calling them. I start to write everything which comes to mind. They always end w-with me feeling sick and forgetting what I’ve been thinking about. I find these notes later.” 

“Damn, Alph. Looks like you’ve got your own little investigation on your hands.” Sans grinned.

“I’m getting better at remembering too. Weeks ago, when I started this, I couldn’t even get my notes down f-fast enough before forgetting. I think I’m training my brain to hold onto the loose bits better.” She was correct, the notes near the beginning were short, maybe two words long, ranging to a sentence. Interspersed irregularly over a week. The logs became not only longer but more frequent as time passed. 

They commonly read as such:

_‘Core inspection date flagged on PC calendar._  
Hasn’t been our issue for years.  
Who was first in charge of Core?  
Core blueprints stored here so who built the Core?  
…  
Caused nausea  
Called one of the head engineers over at the powerplant. No one from the lab had been required to attend inspections since my appointment as Science Nobody. Asked but they don’t remember any names of who called for this order in the first place. Not sure why PC flagged the event, I don’t remember it happening before.’ 

Were how most of the notes read. 

“Right now, I have two theories.” Alphys said, her brow bunched together in a deep frown. “It’s either caused by something or someone that used to be here, maybe an experiment which went wrong. Or, it’s a s-side effect of the Resets.”

Her ideas set off a greater spark of interest inside Sans. “Are you thinking it relates only to the lab, or the Underground in general?” 

“For now, I think j-just the lab. I thought only I was getting these ‘lose thoughts’. You seem to also, when they’re somehow connected t-to here.” She replied.

Sans tried to catalogue the various experiments he had helped with during his time working under the old Royal Scientist. Nothing stuck out. They had learned under the rather reckless attitude that testing things on oneself was perfectly reasonable if no test subjects were available. It was a fast way to document results and everyone knew the risk. It kept strangers out of their way and mostly proved to yield decent results. So long as everyone was careful, of course.  
Working from that mentality was how Sans had ended up with the ability to teleport. The idea that the lab workers had ended up exposed to something that tampered with certain aspects of their memory was not too farfetched. 

The Scientist interrupted his thought, “From what you were saying earlier, a collapsing timeline might have caused something like that. What do you think?” She asked him. 

“I guess?” He said, having no real input to give. “I haven’t seen any lasting damage from it, apart from my stats, the cracks which didn’t fix in the hall and the kid. I’m speculating on that last point but they did seem to lose their fire after that one.”

She nodded and lapsed back into silence, thinking intently. “… I know you aren’t a big fan o-of talking about them, but... t-the more I know about the Resets- t-that one especially, the more informed I’ll be.” Alphys seemed to cringe, as if overstepping her boundaries in some way. Peaking over her glasses for Sans’ reaction she continued, “If we ever try t-to figure out a way to prevent it from happening again.” 

Sans felt uncomfortable, giving Alphys a detailed list of Reset outcomes was not something he particularly desired. Despite this, a softer more understanding part of him reminded him that she was more than entitled to be kept in the loop. If they were ever able to put their heads together and try to stop the Resets (something which Sans believed was totally impossible) then Alphys would of course be the best bet in making that happen. 

The lizard was starting the fidget uncomfortably, looking between Sans, the TV screen and her hands.

“Course, Alph. Thats no problem.”

“You sure?” She squeaked.

Sans winked, “Yeah, won’t bother me, I got more spine than that.” He grinned. Still not totally committed.

Feeling slightly more confident, she reflected his smile. The construction themed show had ended, adverts for various products and businesses flashed in bright colours on screen. A hairdryer that turned hair different colours when used. A magical gemstone emporium in New Home, the largest in the Underground, if the add was to be believed. And tours into the dangerous but beautiful Snowdin Forest curtesy of… wait, that was Goldwell’s business; since when was he doing that? 

“Hey, Alph.”

“Hmm?” 

“Thanks again for today.” Sans smiled, feeling altogether much better, thanks to her company. It was better than his room, which was where he would most likely be sulking if not here. 

“S’ok, didn’t do much, did I.” Her face curling into a smile, “You were pretty badass actually, s-standing up to Undyne like that. It was super anime.” 

Sans shrugged, “You should carry on with that ‘lose thinking’ thing, or whatever you were calling it. Sounds pretty interesting.”

“I’ll let you know h-how it goes.” She said with a glint in her eye. “’Dizzi’s Doable Designs’ is on next, wanna stay for another episode?” 

“You know I always have an eye out for my favourite trash TV!” Sans said, sticking a finger halfway into one of his eye sockets.

Alphys shivered in mild disgust and reached towards the mini fridge beside her, “M-more ice cream?” 

“Why not, nothing quite melts the ice like ice cream.” 

“… That doesn’t work.” Alphys said, tossing Sans a small packaged block of the dessert, this one raspberry and cola flavour. 

“Yeah, your right. Don’t blame me, I stole it from the Nice Cream guy.” Sans admitted.

“Suppose I better text Undyne back before she bursts in here looking for me.” Alphys said around a spoonful of what looked like termite and chocolate flavour. 

They settled into the blankets of the sofa for one more episode of blissful trash. 

Midway through, Dizzy was remarking on some other monsters dining room. She clicked her horns against the walls as she commented on the colour- bright red and pale pink, vertically striped. Rudely interrupting, a distinctly mobile phone sounding buzz sounded between them.

“Not me.” Alphys informed.

Sans reached into his pocket. Sure enough a new message filled the screen.   
He cringed inwardly, seeing the sender was Grillby.   
The feeling was soon forgotten when he read the message.  
‘The Egg has just returned. He is at the bar. Dogs are here waiting for your brother.’ 

Sans tapped out a reply, quicker than he though his tired movements were capable of.  
‘U no if papyrus is on his way?’

‘Yes, I have informed him. I would advise making your way here.’ Came the thankfully fast reply.

‘On my way.’ Sans responded. He crammed the phone into his pocket and stumbled from the sofa. Alphys looked more than confused.  
“Sorry, Alph. I think I gotta go help my bro make his first arrest.”


	16. Walking on Eggshells

The bar was its usual quiet self. As Sans entered, he was bathed in glows of orange and the welcoming heat contrasting the outside snow. The late afternoon atmosphere was tinged with something off. The dog pack sat in their usual seats. Their posture ridged in anticipation. Doggo’s eyes latched onto Sans, as the only moving figure in the room. Dogamy rose his drink in greeting, he said nothing, not willing to break the silence. 

Pink Bird sat opposite them, she nodded to the skeleton as he made his way to the bar. Her feet gripped and clawed at the legs of her chair anxiously. Sans made his way to the bar and took his usual seat. 

Egg sat across from him, on the stool he had claimed as his usual seat, between the monster’s infrequent disappearances. The pale creature rested the elbows of his four stick-thin arms on the hardwood. A thick crack ran down the side of his body which defiantly had not been there previously. Incapable of much expression, Sans wondered how Egg would look if he had a face. 

Of course, Grillby was there too, an ever-present beacon. The elemental gave no indication that anything was amiss as he handed Sans a bottle of ketchup as the skeleton took his seat. 

The tension in the room was palpable. The supposed calm that everyone sat in did not remotely match the simmering magic which sparked about the room. Every monster, though they sat with backs turned to one another, seemed to be anticipating a storm. 

Seeming to be a natural exception to this kind of emotion and behaviour, Grillby returned to organising whatever it was he was doing behind the bar. Tiny clinks of glasses filling the uneasy silence. 

“Thanks, Grillbz.” Sans grinned, pulling the seal from his drink. “Hey, Egg, haven’t seen you in a while.” The magic in the room reacted instantly, as if every monster behind him had taken a sharp breath. 

Egg turned his body to look at Sans, despite his lack of facial features. 

Taking a swig of the thick red substance, Sans continued as if nothing was amiss. Well, someone had to break the ice, right? “It was strange not seeing _yolk_ all week. You been good?” He asked, not expecting an answer.

Predictably, none came. Egg just sat, quite still, regarding Sans where he sat three seats away. Again, the tension seemed to pull tighter with every word spoken. Not a single monster gave even a tut at Sans’ humorous attempt. Something was defiantly off. 

The quiet was interrupted as the front door was roughly pushed open. Pink Bird gave a gasp of alarm, not expected the sudden noise. Papyrus kicked the snow from his shoes onto the doormat before striding in. All eyes seemed to glue to him.

“Good afternoon, all!” Papyrus exclaimed cheerfully, in a volume which sounded more like a yell, thanks to the quiet everyone had grown accustomed to. Even each of the skeletons clunking footsteps were abrupt and jarring. 

Grillby raised a hand in greeting before returning to his chosen activity of delicately polishing glasses. 

“S’up, bro.” Sans smiled, adjusting the tight neckline of his pyjama shirt.

“Good day, Egg.” The skeleton greeted, “We’ve missed seeing you around town this week.” Papyrus strode up to the bar, leaning in the space between Egg and his brother.

The monster in question made no movement. Nor had he since turning in Sans’ direction. 

Papyrus glanced at Sans, unsure. “Did you have a good time, wherever you were?” He attempted once more. 

Again, no response. There was little indication that Egg had even heard the question.

The taller skeleton sighed, opting to jump straight to the point. “Egg, if I may, we have evidence to suggest you were at the location of the murder of Professor Ignis, on the night he died-.”

Sans interrupted, “And you were snooping around Ms Truffle’s place, too.” He added, realising he had probably forgotten to mention the occurrence to Detective Papyrus. 

“Umm, yes, quite.” He said, giving Sans an odd side glance, which told him he was correct in his previous notion. “I would like to ask you a few questions, if you wouldn’t mind, in regards to your motivations.” Papyrus asked. 

They waited for a reply. The monster in question shifted once more in his seat to properly ‘face’ Papyrus. At least giving the impression Egg was digesting the words spoken to him. 

The skeleton fumbled with his trusty notepad while Sans took check of the room. Excluding Grillby, every eye in the building was fixed on the exchange happening at the bar. Doggo especially looked like a rubber band about to snap, his eyes having difficulty locking onto such a still monster as Egg. Glasses scraped and clinked in the background as Grillby busied himself with organising a cupboard. 

Clearing his non-existent throat, Papyrus proceeded with his first question, “Were you familiar with either of the victims at all?”

Egg stared. He did not answer.

“Uh. Ok! Well, lets try another. Do you have any reason for causing either of those monsters harm?” He tried again, struggling to maintain his confident tone against one so unreceptive. 

Nothing.

“M-maybe an icebreaker would help. I suppose it was rude off me to jump right in with the serious questions. Favourite popcorn flavour?” Asked Papyrus with a distinctly nervous undertone. 

“Someone feeling hard-boiled today?” Sans mumbled around his ketchup bottle. 

Papyrus turned with the intention of remarking on the ill timing of his joke when a voice spoke into their minds. Not at all from Grillby though.  
‘Somehow, you are even more foolish than I thought.’ It growled in a snarling tone, laced with what felt like popping static. ‘No wonder this has been allowed to fester right under your noses’, it hummed in Sans’ skull, in a distinct vibration, as if the words were inside him. Unpleasant would be putting it lightly. 

The reaction was immediate. Every monster in their company had experienced the same sensation. They tensed even more, if that was indeed possible. Grillby’s movements stilled while Greater Dog whined. Pink Bird shrunk into her seat in discomfort. 

Papyrus seemed to struggle to process this and looked unsure on how to proceed. He opened and closed his mouth, fiddling with the paper between his fingers. Having desired a response from the monster, he had surely not expected it to be delivered in such a form. 

As Papyrus fumbled, Egg took the opportunity to begin rising from his seat. 

Interrupting, Papyrus moved to block Egg’s path. “Wait, please, or I’ll…”

Egg stopped, seeming interested in what this threat could be. He magic gave away his agitation, but that was all, no real anger radiated from the monster. It was clear he thought Papyrus was losing his nerve. Sans eyed them carefully at his brother’s side. 

Papyrus stood up straighter, showing off his taller stature compared to Egg. He spoke with a force and confidence even Sans hadn’t expected. “Or I will be forced to use what is within my power as the caretaker of this town and use whatever necessary in order to get your co-operation.” Magic gathered around him as he spoke, broadcasting his intent on multiple levels. 

This display seemed to encourage the dogs to rally behind their leader, each began rising to attention. Lesser Dog growled, understanding the core of the situation.

Egg did not speak nor move. 

“I am sure Captain Undyne will not be pleased with your unwillingness to assist with the case.” Papyrus said.

The intensity of the situation could not dull the thrum of pride which passed through Sans’ soul. His bro was so cool.

‘Ping.’

Papyrus seemed to stumble on the spot. Egg had grabbed his soul with blue energy.

‘Ping.’ Sans grabbed Egg’s. He twisted on his stool to fully face the standoff. “That was rude. He was asking nicely.” Sans said slowly, letting his magic field flare in warning. 

“May I point out…” Papyrus said through gritted teeth, as if every one of his bones were frozen together. “That in both instances, the killer was a user of blue magic.” 

‘You mind taking this outside?’ Interjected Grillby, speaking for the first time this evening. He had ceased his cleaning and now watched on with careful eyes. 

“Indeed.” Sans agreed, “ _Shell we?_ ” He beckoned.

The moment dragged on with no one moving until, eventually, Egg broke his hold. Papyrus, released from Egg’s magical grip, stumbled where he stood. In turn, Sans also dropped his magic. Egg slipped fully from his seat and led the way towards the door. Papyrus followed behind, the dogs rising from their seats to join him. Sans did not take his eyes from the strange silent monster as he pushed open the bar door with a creak. Pink bird looked between the crowd leaving, she gave a pleading whimper as the door to the bar fell closed. 

The smell of nearby pine trees filled their noses. Sans was suddenly made aware of his lack of a coat as the group stepped into the snow, which in some places rose up past his ankles. Though he was fairly resistant to the cold, a chilly wind whipped up the loose snow in dancing swirls. It made Sans’ pyjamas feel very thin. 

The group stopped when Egg did, in the middle of the wide Snowdin street. The town’s centre piece pine tree stood tall, now undecorated and dull in the grey air.  
Papyrus stood in front, clearly intent on negotiating. Meanwhile the dogs stalked around, forming almost a circle around their target. Doggo snarled, in frustration, he sneezed in the cold wind. The Dogi couple matched each-others movements, neither were messing around as they watched intensely. Lesser and Greater Dogs fed off the energy of the group, copying and following their instinct. Sans stayed behind his brother, ready and waiting at the back of the party. 

Other passing residents eyed the forming group. Some of the bunny family passed nearby. They grabbed their child’s arm and made their way a separate direction, the signs of a fight apparent. From the opposite way down the street, Shrubberthree, Goldwell and the tall bright green bug, Honey stopped to watch the commotion. 

“Do you intend on co-operating now?” Papyrus asked. 

Egg’s magic buzzed around the group, enough that all could tell what the answer would be. Doggo unsheathed his blades, letting the metal slide together while the married couple held their axes at the ready. 

The situation concerned Sans. He had already used a considerable amount of magic already today, against Undyne. Above that, the magic he used would be restricted to bone attacks and blue magic. Though his need to keep Papyrus and the others from serious harm outweighed his wish to keep his experimental magic a secret.  
Sans squinted, laying eyes on Egg’s soul. Disturbingly, the monster’s ExP had increased since Sans had last checked during the Gyftmas celebrations. Egg had a crazy amount of HP, the kind a boss monster wouldn’t sneeze at. A shiver ran up his spine. This was not the kind of person to anger nor back into a corner. Two things the Sentries were certainly doing now. 

Were the group ready for a potentially serious fight? He honestly couldn’t say. Forget secrets, Sans would use his most powerful magic to end this fight the second he got the chance. If this truly, _truly_ was not going to be Reset, then he had to do everything in his power to protect his brother.

Egg was once more silent, unmoving. His back to a row of buildings, the circling dogs unable to get behind him. 

The wind blew in one strong beat, sending the tops of snowdrifts swirling down the afternoon street.

Long seconds passed, the scene bathed in quiet. 

Suddenly, with a crackle an array of oval shaped magic bullets appeared above Egg. With a sudden flick of his arm, they scattered with the sound like a fire cracker snapping. They sliced through the air widely, aimed at all of his approaching foes. 

Papyrus bounded back as the bullets slammed into the snow at his feet. Sans and the other Sentry dogs avoided the shots with ease. The exception was Doggo, who failed to react in time, taking a bolt straight to the chest. It knocked him back, landing with a thud on his back. 

Papyrus turned quickly to assess the damage. “Really, I would prefer to talk without resorting to such violence.” He tried again. 

But Egg had already queued up another blast which spiralled through the air, catching Dogamy in the shoulder. 

The assault seemed to be enough for the couple, who suddenly dashed forwards together, axes drawn back ready to strike. 

Drawing up a long bone attack and holding it like a weapon, Papyrus stood ready. “It seems you have chosen yourself a more difficult approach, in doing so you will be detained, by the power granted to me by the Royal Guard.” He said, getting into a more appropriate battle-ready stance.  
It was clearer than ever that it was Undyne who had taught the skeleton. The act of turning a magic construct into a hand-held weapon was a style the Captain often used. Something Sans had become all too intimate with today. 

Sans just wished his brother would stand aside. From their current positions, Sans couldn’t get a clear attack. 

The Dogi couple approached the silent monster from either side, reeling back their axes. Egg raised another hand, grabbing Dogaressa with blue magic and flinging her high, over Doggos head, where he slowly rose from the snow, having had the wind knocked out of him. Dogaressa hit the ground. She would have landed impressively, on her feet, had the ground not been covered in thick snow. Her foot slipped from under her and twisted painfully.

Egg turned back to where Dogamy attempted to attack from behind. The monster gathered a ball of shining white energy and slammed it into the dog at close range. He toppled back, smoke rising from the thick fabric armour he wore. The attack was fast, unrefined and brutal. The dog was staggered and unable to recover from the hit.

Releasing another quick burst of energy at Dogamy, the bolts were nullified by a row of bones rising from the snow, creating a protective wall. Egg turned sharply to where Papyrus held his ground. The skeleton wore a look of warning. 

Sans searched for an opening to help. Unable to fully enter the fight- curse his low stats- he was forced to stalk the perimeter. Desperately, tried not to let his worry turn to panic. Their foe clearly unnegotiable and content with killing. 

Lesser Dog entered the fray. Having not replaced his old sword and shield, lost during their trek into Snowdin forest, he resorted to lunging. 

Egg grabbed the fluffy dog with blue magic, holding him steady. The monster didn’t account for Lesser’s extending neck. It lashed forwards like a spitting snake, teeth sinking into one of Egg’s spindly arms. 

Egg jerked back in pain. 

A flash of metal behind him and-.

**Crack!**

Dogamy’s axe collided with Egg begore whipped back to it’s owner, through the air like a boomerang, controlled with magic. The impact leaving a thick crack in his shell.

A flurry of bone attacks from Sans slammed into the hard-shelled creature. A few of the attacks caught Lesser Dog, thanks to the skeleton’s lack of pin-point accuracy. Lesser Dog didn’t seem to notice, he was too busy sinking his teeth into Egg’s arm. 

With Lesser still enveloped in blue energy, Egg lifted before slamming the dog into the ground. He squealed, releasing Egg’s arm from his fangs. Like Dogaressa, Lesser was flung across the clearing. With a solid crunch, the dog collided with the wall of a nearby building. He slumped to the floor, rolling lifelessly onto his side, unconscious. 

Papyrus gasped as he watched his friend limply fall into the snow. Raising another wall between Dogamy and his attacker, he tried to appeal once more. “Egg, please. You have nothing to fear from surrendering. Stand down and we can-. Hha!” Shining oval bullets sent Papyrus skidding into the snow. 

Greater Dog thundered towards the battle at a run. Egg held up a hand and a strange energy rippled through the crowd. A blue bubble trapped the hulking canine, letting him hang in the air, thrashing. 

Recognising the trick from only a few hours earlier, Sans fired a barrage of bone attacks, hoping to knock out Egg’s focus. The scattering of attacks landed, though not just on Egg-; Dogamy had moved in at the same moment and been caught by Sans; magic. A few bones sliced over unarmoured fur, making the Sentry recoil back. Flecks of blood marking the snow. Damnit. 

Egg was unperturbed by Sans’ magic. The bubble of gravity seemed to solidify, trapping Greater Dog in a soundless void. The pressure strong enough that it immediately started to snap and buckle the canine’s armour. Egg’s blue magic must have been hugely powerful, to project such a force at a distance with such a pressure behind it. It made Sans look as if he could only preform the basics of the art. 

“Break his focus!” Sans shouted to the group. With both his brother and Dogamy on top of Egg, he could not risk using his blasters. Greater was fighting a losing battle as he thrashed soundlessly within the bubble. 

A bone attack from Papyrus knocked Egg onto one knee. An axe swung from Dogamy, colliding with an echoing crunch. 

Egg held firm, not flinching, not dropping his gravity field. Large cracks beginning to creep up his frame. 

Greater Dog’s armour buckled inwards in what should have been a loud horrid snap. The metal bending with the ease of crumpling up paper. 

A glimmer arced through the air and sliced into the snow at Egg’s feet. The monster trembled. His outstretched arm quivering, sliding and finally falling beside the blade, severed at elbow. Blackish blue fluid spewed from the wound into the snow. Egg shuddered. The gravity around Greater Dog lifted and he fell with a slam into the ground. 

Dogaressa, leaving her weapon embedded in the ground at Egg’s feet, sprinted to her friend’s side. Everyone stopped and turned her way as she gave a loud gasp. The dog skidded into the snow beside him as Greater Dog’s fluffy head rippled unnaturally. 

Then, he turned to dust.

Armour, crushed inwards, lying in the snow. Dogaressa bent over him, eyes wide in shock. 

The clearing descended back into silence at the sight. Papyrus’s posture sagged, his magic weapon disappearing from his grip. 

The three bystanders shuddered. “I’ll go get the Guard, the Captain, anyone!” Honey said, taking off in a run towards the Waterfall end of town. Goldwell and Shrubberthree followed. The plant monster gradually being left behind as they clumsily waddled through the snow. 

Taking the moment of shock as an advantage, Egg seized Dogamy with magic and slammed him head first into the ground. He landed roughly, a sickly snap echoing into the quiet afternoon. 

Yelping the dog flinched away, clutching his snout, blood gushing from his nose. 

Egg prepared another strong bolt of magic to fire at the injured dog. 

Sans acted quicker. Turning Dogamy’s soul blue with the same power just used against him. This time pushing him back out of harms way. Dogamy took the incentive to scamper back to a safer distance. The dog looked rough. 

Standing in the middle of the battle was Papyrus. Still. Staring with wide eye sockets at the remains of Greater Dog. The nearest monster to Egg, who, unlike the others he had injured, seemed to be having no trouble fighting despite his severed arm. The limb now turning to dust in the snow.

Sans knew he needed to act quickly before Egg took the opportunity to finish another of the Sentries. This threat was real and standing just metres from Papyrus, beckoning forth another attack. Fear bubbled within his ribcage. Exhaustion pulled at his soul.

In a rapid set of movements. Sans took a shortcut to a better vantage point. He grabbed Papyrus with blue magic, pulling him back away from their foe. The tall skeleton didn’t seem to catch up with the world around him in time and stumbled into the snow. It didn’t matter much to Sans, his brother was out of the immediate firing line. 

Now with a clear shot, he gathered his magic to summon forth a blaster head. The beast skeleton taking shape in the snowy air. 

It took too long though. Egg, identifying his biggest threat, grabbed Sans’ soul. His breath suddenly seemed locked within his bones at the force of the magic. Even just this felt crushing and painful. Next thing Sans knew he was flying through the air. 

Focus lost on his blaster, it dissipated as quick as it had begun to coalesce. Something loud and hard met his back. Then he was falling, slamming down in a different darker place. The impact to his skull as Sans hit the floor was hard enough to crack the bone. It knocked all thought out with it, replaced with blurry orange dissolving into black and the feeling of an all-encompassing exhaustion. Closing his eyes, Sans dropped to sleep. 

 

Papyrus sat up quickly from the snow. His trance-like state of fixation on what was left of Greater Dog had left him vulnerable. It was horrific, how could anyone do that to another monster? 

Sans must have dragged him back. A sound like an electric whining groaned from behind. Papyrus turned to look just in time to see whatever large magical construct his brother had been using, fade, as Sans was lifted off his feet and thrown through the air. He slammed into one of the front windows of Grillby’s. The glass shattering instantly from the force. Crashing through the window and out of sight. 

“Sans!” Was he ok? His brother had such low HP! 

Papyrus lurched forward, intent on checking the state of his brother. He stopped himself and scanned the battlefield. Dogamy cowered behind a snowbank, bleeding badly while his partner loomed over the remains of Greater Dog, in distress. Doggo and himself was the only ones left able to fight. Fleeing now would solve nothing, they still had justice to uphold. 

Sucking in a deep breath, Papyrus calmed himself. Sans would be fine. The other dogs were fine. He rose to his feet. Egg was rooted in one spot, charging some sort of energy burst. Doggo was still in the fight, his lack of perception of still objects made him fairly useless. Was Egg choosing to keep as still as possible on purpose? Encouraging their foe to move would be the best way to go about this. 

Egg’s energy blast was fired towards Papyrus. The skeleton skilfully sidestepped the shots, his scarf billowing in the wind. A smash behind him probably indicating the blast had taken out a second of Grillby’s windows. 

“Come on, Doggo.” Papyrus called encouragingly to the nervous monster. 

Doggo nodded quickly in response, gripping his weapons tighter. 

Launching an answering shower of bones, Egg leapt from his spot to dodge. In a blur, Doggo charged in, finally catching sight of his prey. The dog delivered well timed slices, Papyrus throwing magic at the Egg whenever he tried to shake off the dog. 

With a quick blast of white light, Doggo was knocked back. Papyrus sprinted, well acquainted with building speed quickly in the snow. He leapt and kicked down hard on Egg, drawing a magic weapon to swing. A new crack etched its way into Egg as he stumbled back. The oval monster looked bad now, as if he should be getting tired and losing momentum. Despite his many thick cracks and dripping stump arm, Egg did not yet seem bothered by his damage.

The monster held out an arm towards Papyrus. Blue filled his vision and a terrible pressure weighed down on him, building. Trapped in a vacuum of silence. 

It built quickly, making his bones tremble. The sensation of being compressed, squeezed from all sides. 

No! He wouldn’t allow this villain to bring him the same fate as his friend! Unable to move, Papyrus gathered his magic, anything he could to fight back. 

The field dropped, realising Papyrus. None of his magic had impacted the monster. Doggo stepped back, withdrawing a sword from Egg’s side. A strange blue gelatinous substance seemed to bubble at the surface of the injury. 

In a wave of movement, both Sentries were struck with a sudden pushing force. Knocking them back to give Egg room once more. Doggo stepped back, unable to clearly see his stationary target. Papyrus was unsure whether they could win this fight. Despite what had been done, he had no intention of killing their foe. Without seeing the monster’s soul, he could not be sure of how much HP that cracked shell yielded. 

‘Papyrus.’ A familiar voice spoke into his mind. ‘You seem to be experiencing difficulty.’ 

Grillby stood in the doorway of his establishment. He slipped the gloves from his hands, folded them neatly and slid them into his pocket. Then, rolled up his sleeves with precise delicate fingers. 

The wind whipping the flames of his head as the elemental trudged forward in the snow. Papyrus noted immediately his balled fists and a simmering anger carried around by his magic. The skeleton had to blink, feeling like he had missed something, from the bartender’s disconnected actions. 

‘Your brother is fine. He is resting.’ Grillby continued, in an unbelievably calm, nearly soothing tone which starkly contrasted every other output the monster gave off. He marched forwards and stopped a short distance between Egg and Papyrus.

Their oval shaped foe seemed to regard Grillby’s appearance inquisitively, apparently surprised by him stepping into the ring. 

‘My apologies for not aiding you sooner. I regret all that has happened, thus far.’ Grillby glanced towards where Greater Dog’s armour lay, his dust whipped by the wind. At Dogaressa, who had moved to her husband’s side and attempted to heal his snout.  
‘It baffles me that you would choose this route, after these people only gave you hospitality.’ Grillby continued, eyes flicking back to Egg. 

Egg did not react. This surprised absolutely no one. 

‘This is your final chance to come clean.’ The elemental said. Still sounding perfectly calm despite the violent crackle of yellow orange flames which betrayed his feelings. The sizzling of snow on the wind as it touched his flames. 

Was Grillby of all people making a challenge? Papyrus had never heard of the monster picking fights before. The idea filled him with curiosity. Grillby was such a strange individual. 

Both silent monsters stared each other down. The tension rose by the second, reaching a bubbling simmer as their aggressive intent seemed to match. 

Making his choice, Egg summoned an ark of shining bullets. 

As they released, a tower of flame erupted from the ground, blocking its path. It did little to slow their progress. Papyrus gasped as the magic zipped straight through and slammed into Grillby. In a flash he was knocked back a considerable distance, coming to a skidding stop, still on his feet. 

The flames of Grillby’s hands whipped into long fiery ribbons, crackling menacingly. The top of his head burning in a towering mass. Fire streaked along the trodden frost of the floor from one flaming hand. It snaked towards Egg like a blazing trail of gasoline. 

An explosion erupted close to Egg. Blasting outwards in a great crash which echoed around the cavern ceiling. It cast the scene in an orange flash, the monsters who looked on flinched away. The buildings surrounding them shook with the impact, clumps of snow falling from rooves and tree branches. Reacting in time only left Egg with black singe marks as he managed to jump aside. 

Not leaving Grillby to deal with this alone, Papyrus summoned a streak of bones to catch Egg as he dodged the blast. The attack made contact, leaving another cracking indent in his shell. 

Embers of glowing orange and yellow flitted about the air as Grillby recharged back his energy ready for another strike.

Doggo charged back in, going for a slice with his swords. Silver glinted under nearby street lamps as he slashed downwards. 

The attack was parried. Egg fired a concentrated close-range blast right into Doggo’s chest. It left the dog stunned and disoriented, stumbling off target. 

Grillby was ready with another line of fire snaking closer to Egg’s back. An attempt to catch him off guard.

It seemed the plan was anticipated. With near perfect timing, Doggo’s soul was seized with blue energy and thrown, meeting Grillby’s explosion. Without a sound he was engulfed in flame before the crushing shockwave threw the dog’s limp form back out. 

Papyrus watched in horror as his fellow Sentry crashed back onto the ground with a sickening snap. His body scorched and raw in a twisted heap. Moving no more, Doggo turned to dust. 

It was so vile, so brutal, so _easy_ for this monster. Papyrus stared between Doggo’s dust and Egg, unable to even begin comprehending an act such as this. He felt sick.

Another stunned silence fell upon the crowd. He was vaguely aware of the many residents who now watched on from windows or peered around corners.  
The Dogi couple stared wide eyed at yet another fallen friend. Dogaressa’s healing did not seem to be doing much. Dogamy’s snout looked… wrong. Papyrus could not tell especially how from such a distance. 

Lesser Dog still lay knocked out cold against the side of a nearby building. Sans was in a similar state just out of sight, or so he’d been told. In truth, Papyrus was no less anxious about his brother’s condition than he had been before. 

Papyrus breathed hard, on reflex. The Snowdin Sentries, and the near familial bond they shared was bloody and dusted in the snow. All thanks to one monster. An intrusive thought entered Papyrus’s head- would he be next?  
It scared him. True, there was a possibility, but that wasn’t really the point. 

If he died, he would die a hero, protecting the residents of Snowdin. The kind of death befitting of a Guardsman. No doubt Undyne would overpower this monster soon after.  
Though Papyrus was scared, he was confident. He held fast to his beliefs and steeled himself for the next phase of the battle. Egg couldn’t have that much energy left, he had to be tired by now, right?

Close by, Grillby said nothing. Though the air around him reflected the horror of what he had witnessed. The flames around him grew in size and colour, turning a vivid blue as his shock shifted into an all-encompassing brutal hatred, the likes Papyrus had never felt from a monster before. 

Grillby’s entire being seemed to warp. Lava melted down his sleeves, dripping and sizzling in the snow. He hunched forward. In a guttural growl, a jagged mouth split open- Papyrus hadn’t even realised Grillby _had_ a mouth! It curled around his face further than should be deemed natural. Snakelike in the way his whole jaw seemed to unhinge. Thick molten liquid dripping down and burning up the snow. The air around the elemental filling with steam and smoke which seemed to hiss along with him.

It was terrifying. Of all the things Papyrus had ever expected of the quiet bartender, this had not been included. The skeleton took a cautious step back, his previous thoughts of a noble death melted with the snow at Grillby’s feet.  
Maybe Grillby could take the lead with this one. 

The shelled monster was starting to look uncertain, though he continued to hold his ground.

An answering bolt was fired from Egg. It zapped through the air with a hiss. A new tower of flame erupted from the ground, of a far greater intensity than previous. This time they succeeded in stopping the oncoming magic, Egg’s bolt sizzling out with a pop. The air around them growing hotter.

What happened next was most unsettling of all. Grillby spoke, not into their minds, as was a familiar sensation at this point, but rather aloud. It bubbled and gurgled in a vile roar which filled the otherwise silent street, loud enough that the sound bounced about the clearing. As if it had been kept purposely unused for such an occasion, to sound as rough and unnatural as possible. **“How dare you!”** Echoing guttural and deep. It left a horrid shiver, like nails on a chalk board. Every monster in view flinched; as if the sound had bitten them. 

Egg, amongst them, could not supress his own shiver. More strange blue substance bubbling around the dents in his shell.

Fire of orange blues and whites swirled to life in the air, whipping in the wind like a typhoon. Papyrus took several more steps back, feeling the immense heat grab at his bones. 

The dancing flame closed in on Egg in many snaking spirals. They hit the snow and boomed into explosive blasts. Egg barely able to dodge the brunt of their blasts as they knocked away any attempt the monster made to fight back. The frosty ground melted, revealing tough dark mud below. Steam rose as the increasing snowstorm was evaporated with the growing heat. Grillby’s fire lighting the darkening street blazing light in a way that made the nearby streetlamps look pitiful and weak.

The elemental roared, molten blues and oranges pooling around him. An unending stream of blasts rained down on Egg. Loud, bright and shocking to the senses. Papyrus crouched low, in fear of a stray attack. He saw the Dogi couple nearby, huddled down, paws pressed to the sides of their heads and ears. 

Unable to escape, Egg enclosed himself in a bubble of gravity. The flames doused upon touching it, unable to penetrate through the vacuum. Though seemingly safe for now, the decision only served to trap Egg. 

Papyrus could barely see the oval monster through the torrent of flame which wrapped around the bubble in a towering tornado. Squinting through the gaps of the swirling fire, he could just make out a long vertical crack tearing its way down their enemy’s shell. Arms quivering under the immense building pressure of his own field. 

In a shudder which seemed to vibrate the earth under the skeleton’s feet, the gravity shield dropped. Egg’s shell splitting open at the moment the flames surrounding him reared up and launched like waiting vipers. 

An enormous blast knocked the Dogi couple into the snow. Both Papyrus and Grillby had to crouch to survive being blown off their feet. It was immeasurably loud. When the noise died, a ringing persisted in Papyrus’s skull. If Undyne was still unaware of an incident then she would surely know something had happened now. 

Grillby stood still, hunched. His flames whipping in the wind, blowing around him in long trails of blue and white. Truly impressive looking. 

The elemental made no move as he waited for the smoke to clear. 

As the grey cloud shifted with the wind it revealed Egg’s shell and limbs lying in the mud, slowly dusting. Something still remained moving however. A blue gelatinous substance hung in the air, suspended. A large fast beating soul in its centre. It seemed Egg was not done yet. 

A scatter of shots pierced the air. They hit Grillby before he had a chance to defend, sending the elemental toppling into the melting snow with an angry hiss of freezing cold meeting burning heat. The sound was accompanied by a pained roar as Grillby struggled to right himself, away from the offensive cold. 

A blast of fire slammed into the blue form. It wiggled and warped as if it created it’s own gravity. The flame pushed it but did not seem able to get through to the soul inside. Grillby tried again and again but seemed unable to do any further damage. 

Papyrus was at a loss for what to do. This situation had gotten way out of hand. Though he rooted for Grillby, the last thing he desired was Egg’s death. 

Suddenly unable to finish the job, Grillby glanced at Papyrus. Eyes not normally too visible burned a striking yellow amongst the blue flames of the monster’s head. His jagged mouth hanging open, rabid looking. The look clearly read ‘why aren’t you helping?’ without the need for verbal communication. 

“That’s enough.” Papyrus spoke firmly, “We don’t want to kill him.” He would not raise his magic aggressively against their attacker, regardless of what he had done. Egg was on the verge of death now. If one more life could be saved, Papyrus would take it, no matter who that life belonged to.

The look Grillby gave him back said, ‘speak for yourself’ as he turned his venomous gaze back to Egg’s floating mass. He prepared another fiery assault. 

Before Grillby could make his move, the blue mass shifted. It squirmed and writhed and, in a crackle, many numerous gravity bubbles popped into being. They were small unstable, only lasting a few seconds before dispersing into nothing, but there were enough that they littered the street.

Grillby fired off his attack, to little effect, only serving to blow a few tiles from a nearby building. 

Dogaressa whimpered and Papyrus saw that her husband had been enveloped by one of the bubbles. It dispersed quickly, the dog slumped over in the snow, the immense pressure enough to instantly knock him unconscious. 

The fire elemental moved forwards for the first time since arriving on the scene. He slowly trudged across the battlefield, molten orange dragging at his feet, moving towards Egg’s remains. 

A shifting to his left had Papyrus jumping back. The bubble only caught his arm. The pressure enough that his bones felt like they would shatter. He ripped the limb painfully out of the strangely warped space. 

Grillby sidestepped a blue field. He continued walking.  
Another spawned beside him as he neared Egg’s core. Like Papyrus, it caught his own flaming arm. The fire diminishing instantly, unable to exist effectively within the space. The angered bartender hissed as the flames on one side of his body totally disappeared in an instant. It left his arm totally without flame, craggy and dark like burnt rock, orange vein-like crack running up the ‘skin’. It must have been a significant chunk of Grillby’s Hp gone instantly. With such damage done from such a split-second attack, if he were to be fully trapped in one of those blue voids, it would likely mean his end. 

A shimmer and slice ripped through the air. Dogaressa’s axe, moved with her magic, chopped down. It cleaved the blue jelly insides of Egg, the substance shaking, almost glitching oddly. The slice missed the floating heart by a fraction. It however cleaved away much of the warping blue gel, leaving the soul within exposed. 

Grillby neared. He reached out with his uninjured hand, almost invisible as it was cloaked in its long stream of fire which trailed long behind him. At the moment the soul was exposed from it’s confines, Grillby snatched it. Egg’s soul squirmed, it’s attacker held it in a death grip in his hand as the large thing beat at the speed of a frightened rabbit’s heart. 

The elemental looked down at it, seething with an anger Papyrus knew instantly he could never empathise with, no matter what cruel fates life might deal him. The skeleton knew at that moment the battle had been lost.

A voice rang out into every monster’s head, Egg’s voice. It was weak spoken slow and calm, a strange contrast to how the soul writhed and beat in Grillby’s hand as it was burned. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ll be doomed to an eternity of repeating death. The non-monster must be struck down before…’ He trailed off before weakly continuing, ‘…The thunder will strike you fools down.’ 

Content the talking had ceased, Grillby’s flame encircled his fist in a rush. The soul gave final shudder before the fist around it tightened, crushing the lifeforce to dust. 

Stepping back, the jelly-like substance at Grillby’s feet dropped to the snow in a splat and dusted also. 

The angry burning flames continued to bellow. All were quiet watching on. Grillby was hunched, still looking ready to strike as the dust in his hand burned up in the intensity of the fire.

As the seconds dragged on, Papyrus wondered whether the elemental would turn on them. He looked ready to go on a rampage. 

Slowly, the tightness of his shoulders loosened and Grillby’s flames retracted to their usual flicker. He seemed to breath deeply, reached up and adjusted his glasses. The usual orange glow they were used to returned slowly, cooling from white to blue to a yellow orange. The swirling flames around the clearing puffing into smoke.

He seemed to return to his usual posture. Mouth sealing closed and invisible once more within his flame. No longer spewing lava. The odd blue popping flame crackled atop his head and around the finger tips of his uninjured hand, giving away the hardly contained anger. The change almost made Grillby appear to shrink down, now the massive flames were no longer billowing. 

He stepped awkwardly out of the lava puddle, wiping the thick substance from his shoes onto the snow. Or rather, what was left of his shoes. One all but disintegrated in the attempt to wipe it clean. Grillby took a minute to inspect the rest of his outfit, which had survived remarkably well. Seeming to decide that he was done straightening up, Grillby let loose a long smoky sigh, which whipped away with the wind.

‘Shall we go inside?’ Grillby asked in their minds. Perfectly calm sounding once more, as if a switch had been flicked. 

They picked up their injured and began to make their way into the bar once more. 

‘Papyrus.’ Came Grillby’s voice once again. ‘May you collect Lesser Dog, I fear I may still burn.’ 

Nodding and hurrying away to scoop up the limp dog, Papyrus could still feel the supressed anger radiating from Grillby. To say that everything he had seen about the elemental this afternoon was unnerving, would be the understatement of the century. 

They congregated in the bar. Tables pushed to the side to create more floor space. Not one monster spoke. The calming warmth the place gave off was welcome as the Sentries settled in, all covered in a thin layer snow. 

Sure enough, Sans was ok. He lay passed out on the floor, head resting in Pink Bird’s lap. She smoothed her feathered hand over his skull gently. From where she sat on the floor, she had chosen hiding rather than watching the carnage. As Grillby entered the space, he made his way immediately to the two monsters. 

Pink bird looked between each of the group. She flinched when Grillby leaned closer, feeling his residual anger ring out through his magic. “Yes, he’s fine.” She responded to a question asked only to herself. Grillby backed away, possibly worried about his heat. 

They hauled Dogamy into the room and lay him gently on his side still knocked out. Dogaressa dashed off to find a better healer. Dogamy looked rough, blood was still dripping and slowly dusting from his nose… or was it his mouth? Possibly both as his whole top of his jaw looked strangely twisted and crumpled. Whatever healing his wife had attempted had done very little. Damage like that needed a professional. 

Finding a place on the floor with no smashed glass, Papyrus sat down beside Lesser, movinging his head in a similar fashion to how Pink Bird sat with his brother. With a magic that glowed a greenish blue, Papyrus set about healing Lesser Dog. 

Not a word was spoken. Papyrus could think of many he wanted to say, many which would be directed at Grillby. Few which would be pleasant. 

Grillby stood in the corner, looking on. He carefully chose the furthest place away, as if he might accidently scorch those in his company. The elemental stared at the wooden floor at the shards of glass from the broken windows. He absently examined his injured arm. It looked strangely human-like in form, craggy like the broken dry ground between Waterfall and Hotland. The limb held no flame, just a faint orange glow between the cracks in the charcoal surface. It seemed to pain him somewhat; Papyrus wondered what exactly it would feel like. 

Lesser Dog was beginning to stir. He whimpered, feeling all the strange emotion in the room. The dog had smashed his head pretty badly. He seemed disorientated, unable to move his neck properly. His eyes totally unfocused, the nails of one hind leg scraping at the floor as he moved the limb randomly. Papyrus hushed him, encouraging the dog to go back to sleep, which he did with great ease. 

Sounds outside grew louder as residents of Snowdin left their hiding places and congregated outside. A few timid faces poked around the bar door, disappearing instantly after. It seemed the situation had been witnessed by rather a lot of people. 

Pink Bird seemed to have put the evidence together. Neither Greater Dog nor Doggo were coming back. She stared about wide eyed clinging to the edge of Sans’ night shirt. 

Papyrus wondered emptily why his brother had still been wearing that crude thing. That was lazy, even for him. Still, he was just happy Sans was ok. He could be as lazy as he wanted, so long as he was alive. 

Dogaressa hurried back in, coming to a skid on her knees beside Dogamy. An orange cloaked monster with plus shaped eyes and small horns hopped behind. They were followed by Scarfed Mouse, another familiar face at this point. All spoke quietly, seemingly reading the feeling of the room. They got to work immediately, examining the unconscious dog.  
Unable to do anything to assist, Dogaressa slumped down beside where the healers worked, tears in her eyes though she refused to let them fall. 

Everyone sat watching them work, or just staring at the floor. In one fast movement which seemed startling and sudden, Grillby flung open the door to his back room and hurried out. 

The adrenaline wearing off now, Papyrus felt tired and a bit sore. He had no real injuries to deal with, he would sleep off his HP loss tonight, most likely. 

Lesser Dog was fast asleep. Papyrus saw no reason disturb him. The monster would probably be curious as to the whereabouts of his missing friends. The skeleton would postpone that conversation a while longer. 

Doggo and Greater Dog. Papyrus felt numb. It didn’t seem real. Roughly a quarter of their group was gone. 

Sans stirred, finally. Much to Papyrus’s relief. The smaller skeleton moved to claw at the back of his skull. Pink Bird shushed him, taking his hand in her feathered one. “Ya got a crack at the back of ya head there, darling, try not to make it worse.” She whispered so quietly, Papyrus nearly didn’t hear her. 

Sans blinked repeatedly as he opened his eyes, one weirdly seeming more sluggish than the other. The lights in his eyes uneven and hazy. Moving as if about to get up, Papyrus opened his mouth to tell Sans to take it easy. Forgetting that that was what his brother did best, Sans instead, shifted to get more comfortable before settling back down. 

Papyrus wondered where Grillby had ran off to. He pondered the monster’s anger, his ability to take another’s life like that, so wild and savage. He pondered the implications of an anger like that. Grillby was a big influence on Sans, right? A stab of fear poked Papyrus’s soul. Could Grillby change like that again and hurt his brother? 

Nothing like this had happened before though, right? Word would have circulated if Grillby regularly turned into a wild beast when angered. He had had the power to destroy most of Snowdin if his power had gotten out of hand… it hadn’t gotten out of hand. Even within such a terrible rage, the elemental had kept perfect control of his power. No one innocent had gotten hurt. Every fiery blast had hit its target. Despite the evidence that Grillby still held true to his usual calm even while enraged, the idea scared him that such damage could be done so easily. 

Instead Papyrus attempted to unpack Egg’s dying words. What on earth could that have meant? Had Egg been their killer? By his words, it seemed not. In fact, it seemed like Egg knew much more than they did. It certainly sounded like their mystery wasn’t over yet. 

The two monsters proficient in healing had Dogamy sitting up and slowly waking now. The orange one worked to reset his jaw while Scarfed Mouse steadied him. Dogaressa sat close by, watching intently. 

A cough sounded. “You’ve gotta be yolking me.” Sans spoke groggily from where he surveyed the scene with dim but now steady eye lights. 

Papyrus sighed. It was going to be a long evening.


	17. Aftermath

The following days were marked with mourning. A small memorial was placed in front of the large conifer at the centre of town. Greater Dogs crumpled armour was laid out beside Doggo’s swords. A huge wreath of interlaced branches haloed the monster’s belongings. Townsfolk wrote little messages on bits of ribbon and tied them to the tree branches. Poor Lesser Dog seemed to be having trouble understanding what had befallen his friends, he was spending most of his day sat beside their memorial. 

Incidents in the quiet town were few and far between, let alone deaths. This would be treated by the locals as a near historic event. 

After the battle, as everyone had sat in the bar, Papyrus had called Undyne. The Captain had come running, though there wasn’t much else to do once she arrived. Some bystanders had run off to get help earlier, however it seemed they had not reached anyone. Sans wondered what had taken them so long, it wasn’t _that_ difficult to find a member of the Guard.

Undyne had strictly told the Sentries not to resume their duties for at least a week. Papyrus was reluctant to take the time off (and had been sneaking off to ‘get milk’ every so often. Sans knew he was in fact taking the long walk through town down the forest path to the Ruins door in order to check the sentry posts. They now had five jugs of milk crammed into the fridge). The other dogs had been happy to use the time off. The Dogi couple had needed to make a journey to the hospital down in New Home. The top of Dogamy’s jaw had been shattered. Thanks to Papyrus staying closely in touch, it seemed he would be out of action for far longer than just a week. 

Mettaton had been back, making a meal of the events. The robot had attempted to interview Papyrus who politely declined, though he hinted that the case possibly wasn’t closed. The media had however jumped on the idea that Egg had been the culprit all along. Most of Snowdin had decided their trouble was over now, the killer had been caught and dealt with, it was a cause for celebration and remembering those lost. A few banners hung from windows around Snowdin, proclaiming happiness at Egg’s defeat. They featured strong phrases and unsavoury language. In Sans’ opinion, it was a little extreme. 

Apparently, a Snowdin resident had managed to take a video of nearly the whole ordeal, which the news broadcasters had loved. Mettaton had not let the story go for days now. He kept showing up with his news crew to record his bulletins for the day. Regardless of whether they had anything to do with the incident or Snowdin in general. The robot was just milking it for the sake of public excitement. 

No monster got quite as much of a spotlight as Grillby. In the couple of days since his rather dramatic execution of the perpetrator, he had become a full-blown celebrity. Grillby’s bar had become the talk of the town, or rather, the whole Underground. Many monsters were traveling down to little Snowdin to stop by. Interviewers with cameras at his door all day. It made many monsters suddenly very curious of the elemental, who had been part of Snowdin’s furniture for so many years. They all had their opinions on how the Egg Incident had been handled, though most seemed to hold Grillby as a hero who had slain a terrible beast.

The elemental seemed to be taking it in his stride. He had, of course, not said a word to a single news reporter. This frustrated them to no end, along with the fact that their star monster didn’t seem to ever leave his establishment. His ignorance was driving them mad. Caught between a curious public who demanded to know the life of this strange unlikely hero and Grillby himself, who seemed determined to give them nothing but shots of him silently polishing glasses. The only contact Sans had held with the elemental was a quick ‘U ok?’ text message. 

While watching the news, Sans had been stunned to see Grillby fighting Egg so fiercely. Though he knew Grillby could be quick to anger, given the right circumstances; Sans had no idea that kind of destruction was lurking behind his friend’s calm orange flames. Fire elementals were generally respected as feisty, powerful monsters, though it was very uncommon to see them in that sort of action. Sans wondered what it was that had triggered that fiery torrent of hatred. Greater Dog’s death? Maybe his windows being broken? Probably the latter.

Sans had found the reporter’s struggle quite funny. Since being thrown through a window, he had been confined to the sofa by a suddenly very overbearing Papyrus who, as mentioned, only left the house to briefly ‘get milk’. Sans hadn’t minded one bit. It meant he had all the time in the world for uninterrupted napping.  
As it stood, Sans was grateful for the time to recover. A tiny crack had been left in the back of his skull from either the window or one of the tables, which he had apparently landed on. Such a small injury that it hadn’t affected his low HP at all, thankfully. It left him feeling headachy, dizzy and quite ashamed of how weak he actually was. 

Papyrus had naturally been very upset; Sans was sure that this was the first time his brother had seen another monster die, in this timeline, at least. Though it seemed, even having practice in previously erased timelines, Sans was notoriously bad at consoling others when instances like these arose. He often wondered what Papyrus thought of his lacklustre hugs and unsure offers to read him a bedtime story. 

As a result, Papyrus had spent most of his time at home, conflicted over whether to hide in his room, sit with Sans to make sure he didn’t suddenly drop dead, or clear his mind with a quick walk. This afternoon, his brother was off to Undyne’s house. Thankfully, that would get him moving. 

For Sans himself, he could admit that the dogs’ deaths were saddening. However, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to react much further than simple acknowledgement. Though upset with himself over this, the fact still held true that Sans had seen these monsters meet their ends enough times that he could barely bring himself to be affected. He would miss them, of course, but that would likely manifest in the coming weeks. Papyrus’s sadness was always much more impactful on him.

The fiasco had briefly made Sans forget his terrible assessment in the Judgment Hall, earlier that day. It unfortunately did not go forgotten for long. A memo was hand delivered by a small armoured monster with buzzing wings. They did not speak after shoving the letter into his hand. Sent from the Queen herself. It read:

_Dear Sans,_

__

_Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the awful situation you and the Snowdin Sentries had to deal with on the evening of our last meeting. My thoughts are with yourself, your brother and friends._

_Given the tragedy of the circumstance, it pains me to inform you that I have come to a decision regarding your position.  
From this moment until further notice, you are suspended from your duties as Royal Judge. The space of your operations has been barred from public access._

_Despite this, I would ask that you speak to Captain Undyne. This is for the purpose of building a plan for how the Judge and Guard could work under the same unit. I believe this to be the best action to take. I hope that the two of you could gain some level of respect for each other during this time._

_I understand that this will be upsetting news and it is with regret that I send it; as I am, above all, your friend. If you wish to visit me to discuss this arrangement then please do, you are always welcome._

_-Toriel_

Sans sunk back into the sofa. He flipped the hood of his new cow suit over his head and attempted not to feel. The paper was haphazardly crumpled and stuffed into his pocket.  
Damn. 

He flicked the TV onto silent and attempted to sleep. This proved difficult, his head full of scenarios ranging from annoying to catastrophic. 

The brief silence was broken as Papyrus blasted excitedly into the room. More energy than Sans had seen him with since waking up on Grillby’s floor. It made his head spin. 

“Off to see Undyne?” Sans asked, trying to beat back the empty feeling from his voice. 

Papyrus nodded, “I sure am. And you are also coming with me!” He announced, with a force enough that Sans seemed unable to argue back. 

Sans blinked slowly at his brother. Not really knowing how to respond.  
Though her anger had cooled since their scuffle in the Judgement Hall, mostly thanks to the Sentries losing two of their number, Sans was still wary of what Undyne might tell Papyrus. He was aware that her desire for justice could easily lead to the monster confessing secrets that Sans wanted kept under wraps. 

Papyrus rolled his eyes at his brother’s lack of response. “Come on lazy bones, jump up.” He said, sliding his boots on. 

Putting on his most convincing ‘sick person’ voice, Sans replied, “Um, sorry, bro. Don’t think I could walk all the way down to Waterfall today. I’m still kinda dizzy.” He rubbed at the tiny crack in his skull for emphasis.

“Yes, I know. But I’m still quite worried about your safety, I’d rather something unfortunate not happen while I am away.” Papyrus continued, looking concerned. 

“But you’ve left me here while you’ve been out in the last few days.” Sans yawned. Sounding like a kid making excuses to avoid going shopping with their parents.

Papyrus placed his hands on his hips in defiance. “True, but I shall be out for longer today.”

“My HP isn’t that low.” Sans pleaded, knowing how stupid of an argument that was.

His brother’s shoulders slumped with a huff. “Please Sans.” He mumbled in a voice which outweighed whatever pleading Sans was attempting to pull off. The forlorn sound softened Sans’ soul and reminded him of how the last few days had been so very rough on Papyrus.

“Ok, sure bro. If it’d make you happy.” Sans said shuffling to the edge of the sofa. 

Papyrus made a squeak of delight and had somehow, within a second, crossed the room and gathered Sans in a crushing hug. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you walk all the way there. I’ll give you a lift.” 

Sans soon discovered that the ‘lift’ the other talked about was a piggy-back ride on Papyrus’s shoulders. Before long, they were dashing towards Waterfall. The bug couple waved in passing, the larger of the two, Honey, giggled sweetly at the sight of the Skeletons. 

“I should use you for weight training more often.” Papyrus said some way into Waterfall as he slowed to a walk, catching his breath. 

“Hey!” Sans said in a mock offended tone. “I’d say I’m only skin and bone, but I’m not even that.” 

“You would be bone and muscle if you came out training with me.” Papyrus offered. He delicately stepped across a line of raised rocks which formed a tiny makeshift bridge through a fast-flowing stream. “You might even enjoy the exercise.”

Sans laughed. “Not sure how that would work. Heh, no thanks, I’m a bone-ified lazy bones. Gotta uphold my standards somehow.” 

“Well if you are trying to do that, then you are certainly succeeding.” Papyrus said. Both finding humour in Sans habits. 

They lapsed into silence for a while longer. Papyrus led the way though some of the narrower caves and up over a steep ridge. Which he managed to scale easily, despite carrying Sans. Tiny yellow and white flowers grew over damp mossy surfaces across the rocks. This was one of the many pretty parts of Waterfall. Luminous insects buzzed around. Their shrill sound accompanied by the distant sound of crashing water. 

“We used to come here all the time.” Papyrus mused, slowing to nearly a stop. 

Sans felt a stab of guilt and nostalgia. This was indeed one of the best areas to view the Underground’s equivalent of stars. It made him aware that it had been an awfully long time since he had stepped foot in Waterfall. Even longer since looking at the ‘stars’. Was it the cold damp feeling he disliked which kept him at bay? Or maybe the unpleasant emotional range he was experiencing at the memories of days long gone? 

“Yeah.” Was all Sans said. He felt like he was obligated to apologise, to arrange a time for him and Papyrus to come and reexperience those old days. Yet Sans wanted more to not lie. In reality, he did not want to sit and look at the stars. Did not want to comb the lose rocks for strange insects. Did not want to chat about, well, anything really; especially things concerning himself, anyway. 

At this proximity, Sans could feel his brother’s every wave of emotion through his magic field. Sans was sure the same could be said for himself. The feelings he picked up from Papyrus in their shared silence were as clear as words. The emotion spoke louder, as if he could feel his brother’s thought process over the simple response he had been given. There was an inner struggle, not too dissimilar to Sans’ own. Bittersweet nostalgia. Longing. Doubt. Guilt. Seemed to swim between them both. Working off of each other’s magic fields in a sort of non-verbal conversation. 

Both seemed to reach a conclusion. Papyrus settled on hope, despite his conflict; while Sans fell into a cold feeling of indifference and disregard.  
Papyrus began to walk at a more casual speed once more. 

Sans wanted to walk for himself, get down from the other’s shoulders and put some distance between them. Anything to make Sans less readable. Papyrus struggled to maintain his usual cheer since the death of Doggo and Greater Dog. It was all still very fresh and raw. For a change, Sans’ bleak outlook seemed to be affecting papyrus much more noticeably than usual.  
Despite his desire, Sans opted to just lazily hang on for the ride. His feet swaying limp with Papyrus’s movements. 

They continued to their destination in relative silence, Undyne’s house appearing around a corner only a short time later. 

Sans was shrugged off Papyrus’s shoulders, his brother running happily to tap on his friend’s door. 

The door was smashed open with enough force that a dent was left in the wood. As it flew open it slammed into the outer wall of the house hard enough that it left a crack in the stone. Sans blinked in mild surprise at the ferocity, imagining that he might have died had he been hit by it. Heh, cool.

“PAPYRUS!” Undyne yelled, grabbing her skeleton friend in a crushing embrace. 

He yelped in surprise. Being knocked back several feet, stumbling to stay upright while attempting to hug Undyne back. 

Sans stepped to the side, letting them get on with their greeting ritual. A flash of yellow caught his attention. Alphys was peering out from behind Undyne’s door frame. They spotted each other at the same time, a smile forming on the lizard’s nervous face. She looked exhausted; Sans could tell from a distance. 

“Hiya.” Alphys called, waddling out from her ineffective hiding place. “Wasn’t expecting t-to see you today.” 

“Yeah, always have a skele _ton_ of surprises up my sleeve.” Sans said, meeting her halfway to the door. 

At this point, the hug had descended into some sort of wrestling match, both Papyrus and Undyne laughing loudly as they tried to throw each other off balance. 

Alphys giggled, “You’ve used that joke every time I’ve seen you recently. You need s-some new puns.” 

Sans shook his head, ashamed. “I know. Everyone remembers them now. They keep calling me out on reusing jokes. Gotta be careful or they’ll stop thinking I’m _humorous._ ” He finished with a wink. 

Glancing over to confirm that the others were distracted, Alphys leaned over to Sans, “Y-you heard from Toriel, y-yet?” She asked in a half whisper.  
Sans felt his magic chill at the reminder of the memo he had received that morning. He nodded once. Reaching into the pocket of his cow suit, Sans retrieved the crumpled paper, handing it to Alphys. 

She looked at him with big eyes, further amplified by her glasses. It made her resemble an insect of some sorts. Alphys seemed reluctant to read such a confidential message. Sans made a hum of persuasion and held the paper in front of her nose. Tentatively, she took it and read. 

Alphys frowned deeper as she read to the bottom. “Oh… S-sorry.” She whispered, handing the note back with a shaky hand.

Sans shrugged, not meeting her eye; nor did he hide the wave of sorrow the letter gave him, at the very least. “What ‘bout you?” He asked. 

The Scientist took in a shaky breath, her eyes darting about. “She w-wants the lab cleaned up and back like it used t-to be. With workers a-and… You know.” Sans was sure that she would not have been truthful had he not shared his verdict first. 

As Sans watched his friend anxiously sink in on herself, a thought came to him, something he hadn’t considered. The Queen alone had made the decision, not a court full of people. It seemed rather hypercritical, if she truly wished to move away from the single person judgment process. 

“Heh, well…” Sans said in a tone much more cheerful than what Alphys must have been expecting. She peered across at him. “Looks like we’ve got a lot of tidying to do down there.” He grinned. 

Alphys blinked slowly. “Y-you sure? You wanna h-help?” 

Not particularly, in all honesty. Pulling himself over to help out was easier than dealing with an upset Alphys. Easier than dealing with no Alphys at all, if it indeed came to that- which it thankfully had not in this Reset.  
“Sure, Alph. You know me, got all the time in the world.” He laughed. 

A smile crept up her snout. Scaly yellow hands shot out like lightning and pulled Sans into a hug. 

**THUD!**

“Woa, Paps, you ok?!” Undyne asked through a fit of laughter. The sound was thankfully echoed by Papyrus, who looked like he had been slammed head first into the mud. This crowned Undyne the winner of their hug-wrestling match. No real surprise there. 

“And I thought wrestling wasn’t real!” Sans laughed. 

Undyne span around on her heels to face him. Her expression shifted from shock to anger until is settled on neutral, with just a hint of dislike sprinkled in. “Oh, hey. Didn’t see you there, Shortstuff.”

Sans’ grin widened from where he remained in Alphys’ grip. “Wazzup, Fish Lips.” 

Alphys also grinned, though it was more an automatic response from hyper awkwardness. Her own brand of ‘fight or flight’. She slowly retracted her claws from where they had gripped the back of Sans’ cow suit. In a little hop, a step was taken, getting her out of Sans’ personal bubble. The lizard shuffled her feet as her eyes darted to and from Undyne, Sans and the ground. As if her Undernet browser history had just been read out to an audience. 

The moment was thankfully interrupted by Papyrus who sprang out of the mud. “Hello there, Alphys, what a pleasant surprise!” 

The group made their way inside. Undyne and Papyrus jumping to the task of making drinks for everyone. Alphys insisted she did not need one, holding up a full mug of soda. 

With a cry of “No matter, gotta stay hydrated!” a second drink was slid dramatically down the table. Alphys caught it just before it slid off the other end. Fizzy drink sploshing over, soaking the sleeve of her shirt. 

Sans managed to catch his coffee also. It was good, an interesting blend. Complete with zero milk and all eight sugars; just how he liked it. 

Alphys and Sans were left to chat about whatever nonsense crossed their minds while the other two excitedly flailed around the kitchen. From what Sans picked up from his occasional glances, their chatter had moved onto the subject of Egg’s attack. When he spoke, Papyrus’s tone dulled fractionally, his movements less confident. It was fractional, incredibly subtle. Though to the eye of those who knew him well, just obvious enough. 

From what Sans could tell, Papyrus seemed disappointed in himself for not figuring some way to end the fight sooner or more peacefully. Undyne reassured him, she seemed happy enough that he had stood up to their enemy, even after some of their number had been killed.  
Papyrus had insisted that he still hadn’t done a lot, especially after Grillby had chosen to step in. Undyne merely pulled him into a side-hug, mumbling something Sans didn’t catch. Whatever was said worked in cheering his brother, it seemed. 

Sans was halfway through Alphys’ explaining that she had given up on the idea of magical crystals as a means to break the barrier. Their power was limited to a finite amount of energy. Anymore and they would explode, quite spectacularly. She was about to announce her next study when Undyne slammed her drink glass onto the table, causing everyone else to jump out of their skin (if they had any). 

“It appears some of us are feeling a little… under the weather.” Undyne began, a sly look on her face, glaring between her guests. “I happen to know the best pick-me-up for these sorts of occasions.” 

Alphys gasped, “Pizza and anime?” 

“Um, no.” Undyne grinned.

“Sleeping lions?” Sans suggested, “It’s my favourite, I always win.” 

Undyne’s fins twitched, “Still a no.” 

“Exercise!” Papyrus cried.

“Bingo!” Undyne shot finger guns his way. “We’re going out for a run.” 

The mood in the room split in half down the centre of the table. Undyne and Papyrus looked pumped and ready to go, the latter shouting in celebration. Meanwhile Alphys and Sans stiffened at the prospect of doing anything remotely physical. 

“Sorry, I, uhh… Well I can’t.” Sans said quickly making his excuses. “I’m still feeling kinda crappy so I’m gonna sit this one out.” 

Papyrus stilled from his celebrations. “Oh yes, this is true. Maybe Sans shouldn’t go, I had to carry him just to get here.” He said, mostly to Undyne, who seemed rather put out by this.  
“In fact, I don’t feel too good about Sans staying on his own at all.” Papyrus said, as if his brother wasn’t sitting a few feet away. 

Undyne looked between her friends. An inner conflict was being fought inside her. Eventually she sighed, “Well you guys defiantly need some air. Soooo, I’ll stay here and babysit Sans while you and Alph go out.” She reluctantly suggested. 

Sans was reminded of how Undyne wasn’t always stubborn, she was quite willing to sacrifice her happiness for that of her friends. 

“You wouldn’t mind? Sans can be messy sometimes but he’s usually no trouble.” Papyrus said.

Sans chuckled, “I’m right here ya’ know.” 

Alphys huffed in amusement. 

“Yeah, how much of a problem could he be?” Undyne grinned, shooting an odd look at Sans, who grinned back. 

Papyrus darted towards the door, suddenly full of renewed energy. “Wonderful, thank you so much Undyne, we need more monsters like you in the Underground. Come along then Alphys!” He took her clawed hand and pulled the much smaller monster from her chair. 

Alphys managed to give Sans a pleading look before the door slammed behind her. 

Now left together, Undyne gave a low chuckle, “That’s the question, isn’t it? How much of a problem can you be?” 

 

Sometime later had Papyrus and Alphys running through the deep undergrowth of Waterfall’s lower levels. Thick bushes and old trees with massive trunks clung to the floor and walls of the vast cavern. The cold damp air seemed to cling to them like early morning dew. 

Papyrus found that, despite her reluctance to partake, Alphys could keep a decent pace. While she tired quickly during longer slower jogs, she could do a mean short distance sprint. The yellow monster opted to run on four legs, rather than her usual two, something Papyrus had rarely witnessed. He had been openly impressed upon challenging her to a race to the next largest tree, not expecting Alphys, despite her tired state, to suddenly sprint like a cheetah. A flash of yellow lightening carving its way through the undergrowth. Papyrus couldn’t have hoped to keep up with her. 

Now though, the pair slowed their pace to a walk, allowing themselves to recover. 

“So, you d-don’t think that Egg guy was the killer?” Alphys questioned, during a discussion of the murder case.

Papyrus shook his head, “No, I do not. Many residents of Snowdin wish for Egg to be called the murderer, so that this nasty business can be over. While they are right in some respects, I doubt that he is the one responsible for Ms Truffle and Professor Ignis’s death.” He said with certainty. 

“What makes you so sure? I-if its ok t-to ask?” Alphys said, peering up at her tall friend. 

“What he said. Not that it was much.” Papyrus answered, “His words were: _’Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ll be doomed to an eternity of repeating death. The non-monster must be struck down before.’_ Bla bla, _‘The thunder will strike you fools down.’_ ” Papyrus quoted, sounding almost bored reciting the words of the dying monster. “I’ve got that written on my wall now. You can tell how many times I’ve read it!”

Alphys frowned. “Non-monster? Thunder… eternity of repeating death?” She recited under her breath. 

“It makes no sense! None of it, from where I’m sitting!” Papyrus said with a wave of his arms. 

Alphys pushed her glasses back up her snout. “It makes some. An eternity of repeating death. That s-sounds kinda like Resets, minus the death… sometimes… I think. 

“Resets?” He questioned back. Papyrus recognised the word but could not place its origin. 

Alphys nodded, “The documents w-what were stolen from Ignis were mostly about Resets and human souls. Sans and Undyne g-gave me a list.” 

The skeleton tutted, he had nagged Sans about remembering to speak to Alphys about that. His brother kept saying he would get around to it, leaving Papyrus with no answers. “So, he had asked you. I’m afraid my brother never conveyed that information, so I am at rather a loss for what you are referring to.”

Alphys tilted her head, “You don’t know a-anything about Resets?” She questioned, bewildered, as if it were something he should be able to write his own science paper on.

“Umm, no. Why would I?” Papyrus question with curiosity.

Watching Alphys, it looked like she had suddenly realised some grave error in her words. Her eyes darted about, wide. “Umm, well. I know the basics. It w-was never my real field of research… Where do I begin…” She mused, “Its k-kinda like a special power, triggered by Determination, from what we know, right? Whoever has the power to Reset can go b-back in time and replay past events.” She said slowly.

It took a few moments for Papyrus to dissect her words before coming to a conclusion, “Wowie, so if I was determined enough, I could go back and help the monsters win the war?” That sounded like a lot of power! What a strange magic. Papyrus considered himself quite determined most mornings, yet he couldn’t do anything like that. 

“Not quite. It allows you to go back to specific points in your life. Notable points, usually, we think.” She corrected. 

Papyrus still didn’t fully grasp this concept. It sounded like something on those awful sci-fi shows Sans liked. He nodded regardless. 

Alphys continued, “So if someone were t-to kill everyone, then Reset, then kill everyone, then Reset, and keep going. That w-would be a- what was it? Eternity of repeating death.” She said, quite matter of fact. 

“That sounds rather far-fetched, if you pardon me saying.” It sounded terrible; how could someone conceive an idea to do such a thing? “I’m sure people would get miserable quite quickly and fight back. I know I wouldn’t be a fan of someone killing me for forever.” 

“Well, that’s n-not quite it. S-see, when the world is Reset, everyone aside from the… ‘Reseter’ lose their memories. Do you understand what t-that means?” She stammered.

Papyrus shook his head. 

“It means that a thousand Resets could have happened just in the space of today and we w-would never know. The killer could walk around that corner up ahead. They could have met us the same way hundreds of times but to us its always the first time. We would never act any differently. We would be eternally t-trapped and have no idea.” She said, voice dull and toneless. 

Papyrus nodded this time. That made sense to him. It sounded horrific. Unimaginable. 

She spoke again, slightly more warmth in her voice. “Sans has never told you about that kinda stuff?”

He laughed, “Why would Sans talk about that?”

“Um, n-no reason.” Alphys lied. 

“No reason?” Papyrus pushed.

“None at all.” Alphys grit her teeth. 

He chuckled, “Did he used to study that in the lab?” 

Alphys nodded, “I c-can’t say any more, s-sorry.” She said quickly, as though it was painful to say. 

Papyrus wondered how much more could be added to her explanation. He dropped the subject none the less, not wanting to upset Alphys.  
They walked in silence for a minute longer. “What else d-did that Egg guy say again?” Alphys asked. She seemed to have gotten over her flustered moment.

Reciting it again, Papyrus anticipated whether she had any more insight into the meaning of the monster’s words. The Scientist had already been incredibly helpful.

“A non-monster, t-that could really only be an animal or human. I can’t think of any animals who would be much of a threat.” Alphys shrugged.

Papyrus gasped louder and with more force than ever before. Alphys looked up in alarm. “THAT’S IT! I know who did it!” He exclaimed. 

“Wha? Who?” Alphys blinked. 

Papyrus narrowed his eyes, “There is a fluffy white dog who is believed to live in Snowdin but has been sighted all over the Underground. Appearing and disappearing almost at random. Strange occurrences happening around it.” 

“Yeah, I know the one. Found him in m-my lab before. ‘Tales of the Wagtail’, it has a segment in t-the newspaper occasionally.” The Scientist said, slightly confused. 

“Indeed it does!” He said, getting more excited. “I have found that dog mysteriously within my home on numerous occasions, also. That would explain how they got in and out of the house with no one seeing.”  
“I don’t think that-.”

Another gasp cut Alphys off, “Any one of us could be next! We could be slaughtered in our sleep by that adorable menace!” 

“I mean, whatever you s-say.” Alphys frowned. 

Suddenly, she stopped, coming to a halt on the barely used dirt track.

Taking this as a hint, Papyrus turned back towards where they came from, “Yes! We must go back at once and warn the others.” He began walking.  
“Wait, Pap. Do you see that?” She spoke in a low voice, squinting through her glasses. 

Papyrus turned to see Alphys stood up straight on her toes. She was completely still. Had he been too loud? Undyne was always warning him about alerting the more savage monsters who lived in lower Waterfall. They weren’t that far down though, nothing too scary was up here, right? 

Through the trees just further ahead, there looked to be a small clearing. Something like a figure moved within those old tall pine trees up ahead.

Something was defiantly there. A slice in the rock, dark, moving. Unnatural. He was aware of the sound of Alphys breathing hard, despite not moving.

The chill in his bones digging in deeper than what should be physically possible. A splitting pain in his head, though both seemed compelled to move closer…


	18. The pale man in black

Undyne’s kitchen was quiet. Sans hummed to himself absentmindedly as he flicked through the biweekly newspaper, its newest issue had just arrived this morning. The puzzles in this issue were rather lacking, Papyrus would be disappointed. There was an advert for Mettaton’s new show, which appeared to be a murder mystery. Clearly the events of recent were giving him some inspiration. With public interest being so high as of current, he would likely get a decent number of viewers. At the bottom, there displayed a competition. A front row ticket to one of the robot’s live shows with the chance to meet him afterwards. 

“You wanna meet Mettaton?” Sans asked, breaking the silence.  
Undyne looked across from where she stared out of her window to where Sans pointed with a bony finger at the tear-out square at the bottom of the page. “God no. I’m well acquainted with the guy already, unfortunately.” She grimaced. “Why? You gonna ask him for a job, if you win?” 

“Hmm, could do. He’d have me.” Sans answered not looking up as he grabbed a pen and began to scribble Papyrus’s name into the information box.

“You sound sure.” Undyne said, taking a sip from her scolding hot drink.

He nodded, “Yeah, I make a pretty good agent.” Sans finished the competition box and clumsily began to tear it out by hand. “Plus, I think he has a thing for skeletons.”

Undyne snorted. “When were you an agent? Or is this to do with your delusions?” 

He met her eye, “Well, I suppose it would be delusion, by your standards. You wouldn’t remember anyway, you were dead at the time.” He said without a hint of emotion. 

Undyne met him with an odd, piercing look though she said nothing more.

“I’ve been told to start discussions with you on how the Guard can work with the Judge. Got a letter ‘bout it this morning.” Sans said as he continued to flick through the paper.

In the corner of his vision, Undyne shifted, resting with her back against the wall. “That all it said?” She asked. 

“Might have been.” Sans said, unhelpfully. He kept his eyes to the newspaper, attempting to digest todays main article. A rundown of the incident in Snowdin. Four small pictures of Egg, Greater Dog, Doggo and Grillby listed vertically beside a larger image of the fight, looking like it was taken from a resident’s window. It depicted various explosions and the bodies of fallen allies as Egg was locked in vicious combat with an enraged Grillby. 

“Mine said I would have been suspended for my actions, had my position been less important.” The warrior said with a measured amount of glee in her voice. “I don’t think the Queen thinks _your_ position is very important… from what I’ve heard, I think she’s still trying to figure out what to do with you.” 

Sans hummed, “I dare say I know what you would do in her situation.” 

“I’m sure you have a good enough idea to watch yourself.” Undyne said, the spite fully present in her voice. 

Sans chuckled. “So, you fancy discussing what Tori asked?” 

“No.” Came her firm answer. 

Fine. That was her decision. Sans began humming to himself once more, contented to just read the paper. Moving a finger down the lines of text as he skimmed the words, Sans was surprised to find that the writer of the article seemed well informed of the whole situation which had occurred. Most of his friends were listed- the Dogs, Papyrus (‘an aspiring detective’), Sans himself, Undyne and Grillby, of course. It was mentioned how the Guard had arrived rather late on the scene.

The article went on to speculate about Egg’s involvement in the crime. They wrote from a perspective that, with this troublesome monster’s death, the case had been solved. Grillby was hailed as the hero alongside the two dead Sentries. Most entertaining was a speculation quoted below from an anonymous source:  
_‘I think it’s a cover up, that Egg guy was framed. I’ve always been wary around that Grillby, knew he had a nasty streak. Those fire elemental folk can be nasty, you know? Doesn’t take much to set ‘um off. I’ve been warning people for years about the guy. Monsters can be unbelievably stupid!’_  
Said the disgruntled commenter. 

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle at the ridiculous claim. Sounds like someone had a bone to pick with Grillby! But then, he supposed you couldn’t make a fan of everyone, even when taking a foul monster like Egg off the street. Offhand, Sans wondered whether the amusing letter had been sent in by a member of the elemental’s family. 

“You don’t sound too choked up about that.” Undyne said, eyeing the article from where she moved to stand across the table.  
Sans shrugged. “Won’t last forever. They always come back.” He said with an uncaring edge. Partially doubting his own words. It would Reset, right? It always did. But what if it didn’t? Oh, but that was just a fool’s hope.  
And so those questions swam in his skull, as they had done every day without fail, since that walk home from Waterfall after collecting magical stones with Alphys. 

Undyne just glared down. Sans did not look up at her, he could identify her feeling of disgust from the magic surrounding her. The skeleton could admit to himself that maybe he hadn’t used the most tactful of words to explain his apathy. Wholly, she was correct though. Sans was by far, the least affected by this tragedy. Thankfully, in his friends’ grief, they had failed to pick up on this fact. Unfortunately, he was far too numbed by previous experience to be swayed by an event such as this. 

A single fact irritated him, something he was all too happy to air to Undyne. “Maybe I would have had more energy to fight with if a certain someone hadn’t been trying to kill me a few hours before.” Sans said darkly. 

Angrily, Undyne huffed, it was her turn to chuckle, “Are you blaming me for what that freak did to the dogs?” She accused in disbelief. 

“Well it sure would have made things much easier if you didn’t have that self-entitled justice complex armed and ready to go at any second.” Sans said, finally glaring back. A threatening look in his eyes. 

A sneer crawled across the warrior’s face. Her fins rising aggressively with a hiss. So easy to rile up. Sans was happy to lay some low blows, in his opinion, the Captain quite deserved it. It was her damn fault that he’d been suspended. 

“You have no right to-.” She hissed before Sans interrupted her. 

“Ya realise that’s the reason why so many people take issue with your Guard, right? Because of fear? Some of your people are just so…” Sans screwed up his face, “Messed up, such repulsive people. It’s the reason Tori is cracking down on your army so hard.”

Undyne grabbed Sans by the front of his cow suit and dragged him roughly up out of his seat. His grin turned down past it usual fixture, eyes dark and hostile.  
He continued, “It might be convenient, ‘cause their half decent at fighting. But I think you need to turn that justice thing on your own people and see where they fall on your imaginary good-bad scale.”

The hatred in her eyes was real, tactile almost, by the way her magic contacted around him. Still she said no words. 

Each stared the other down. Sans had no intent to fight. Undyne was too good to annoy. Sure, she was an incredible, good person, wonderful even, but with a vile ill-placed anger burning within her. A love of fighting for paper thin causes. 

“That onesie looks stupid on you.” She sneered.

“Actually,” He bit back with a grin, “It’s called a ‘snuggle blanket with built-in booties’.”

She dropped him. Sans stumbled as his feet hit the floor, thrown off by Undyne’s impressive height and strength. The skeleton landed with a thud back onto his chair, his feet not quite catching him. Undyne loomed, towering and vicious. 

Sans half expected a punch to the nose. Undyne suddenly stepped back. The act seemed to shock him more than that of violence. The warrior shook her head, turning away from him. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone I like less than you. The human comes close but I think you're still in first.” She said, a voice that both encompassed her hatred and thirst to deal out the punishment she clearly thought Sans deserved; it also gave the feeling of defeat. 

It all made Sans feel very tired. His grin seeping back into its usual place, eyelights reappearing with a blink. He readjusted himself. Undyne walked to her kitchen, setting some water to boil. 

Sans sat for a minute. Before making his mind up. “I’m, urr, gonna use your bathroom.” He said.

Mid reaching for a box of tea leaves, Undyne fixed him with an odd look, one of confusion now. “Just, whatever. Fuck off, Sans.” She sighed. 

He made his way into the side room, locked the door behind him and took a shortcut straight home. 

 

Papyrus and Alphys slowly approached the dark dripping mass. A sound like whispering played in their heads, louder the closer they moved. Alphys stuck low to the damp ground, both approaching under the cover of low hanging branches and thick bushes. Whatever it was did not seem to have noticed them, if indeed it was a being that was capable of doing so. 

Thoughts seemed to zip around Papyrus’s head, beginning and ending all within seconds of each other. The need to keep an eye on this strange anomaly kept him reminded of what they were doing. His thoughts lose, as if his memory was acting up. Alphys did not take her eyes from the strange formation as she took the lead. Her usual nervousness absent as she crept closer, replaced by a determined curiosity. 

Not too far away now, the black shape could be seen much clearer. A totally black diagonal slash across the rockface. Empty and void of colour. It rippled and undulated like moving surface water. This gave it a strange textured look, like slime. As if agreeing with this idea, thick droplets bubbled over and ran down the rock, coming to pool on the ground. Moving slowly with the thickness of tar. 

Looking at it made Papyrus feel unwell, a sick feeling he wasn’t used to churning in with his magic. It accompanied the most unnerving feeling, as if a hidden instinct within him urged him into a fight or flight response. With the way Alphys shivered, she felt the same. Yet neither backed off, driven by curiosity. There was no way Papyrus would run away at some funny feelings, this could be a matter to be reported to Undyne! 

A distant humming caught both approaching monsters off guard. The sound was close but strangely echoed. Light, as if spoken by someone young or female. The voice began to speak quiet nonsense, though the humming continued over it’s words. 

A rustle in the bushes and a shape moved out into the clearing, coming to stand before the black gash. 

They waddled on strange oversized feet, three separate frilly heads. The monster was very small, barely reaching Alphys’ height. 

The scientist settled into the bushes, well hidden. Close enough to stay low and watch the interaction without interfering. Papyrus however, was surprised he had not been spotted. His red and white stuck out amongst the dark greens and blue hues of their surroundings. Not to mention his height! The skeleton shuffled, half covered by the trees. An intense feeling of awkwardness surrounded him, the likes of which he was totally unused to experiencing. This little monster didn’t look that threatening, right? 

Papyrus did the only thing he knew, he stepped out of the bushes into the clearing. 

Alphys leapt out of her skin, turning quickly she hissed a nearly inaudible, “Pap, what are you- NO!” Through wide eyes and gritted teeth. 

“Good afternoon there, friend!” He announced loudly.

The sudden startling sound did not seem to affect the tiny three headed monster. They continued to hum and talk nonsense. Slowly, they turned and- wait, Papyrus recognised them! 

“It’s ok, Alphys, I know them.” Papyrus said cheerily, masking the nervousness he attempted to squash. “You help with that charity for troubled monsters, around here, right? Shrub… um.” What was their name again? “Shrubgrub? Yeah?” 

“You sure y-you know um?” Alphys whispered. 

The little thing giggled, it sounded childlike and not at all friendly. The plant monster’s stems drooped, a tired withered look to them. Their darker greens were tainted by a whitish colour which gave Shrubgrub a sickly look. The usually fluffiness of their blue and white layered petals was replaced with a drab, overtired look. 

They almost seemed to possess a lack of colour. Somehow, the overall image of this monster reminded him greatly of Sans. 

“His audience grows.” Said two of the heads, the third continuing to hum. The sound was ominous and Papyrus had to wonder again whether this creature was sleep walking. 

Seeing no reason to hide away any longer, Alphys revealed herself, stepping out of the bushes. She eyed the plant monster with wary anticipation.

“We’ve met briefly,” Papyrus continued, eager to breakdown the barrier of awkwardness which stood between them. “Shrubgrub moved to Snowdin recently.” He explained to Alphys as if introducing an old friend before turning to the plant monster. “This is Dr Alphys, she is the Royal Scientist. If you’ve forgotten, I’m Papyrus, leader of the Snowdin Sentries!” He announced, unsure of how well this monster knew him. 

Alphys stiffened at his side. 

Shrubgrub spoke again, tiny black eyes half lidded. “Yes. He knows who you are.” 

“O-oh, wonderful! Um, and who might ‘he’ be?” Papyrus asked, cringing at how lost he felt in this situation. 

With a ruffle, Alphys retrieved her phone from her pocket. She held it up, possibly taking a photograph. 

A shiver seemed to run down Shrubgrub’s stem, leaves and flowers rustling as they momentarily shook. They gestured to the dripping gash along the wall. A substantial amount of the substance had flowed out, now forming a pool at the plant’s root feet. Everything the thick dark liquid touched seemed overcome with the same emptiness.  
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” They said.

There were many words Papyrus could have used to describe this scene; he had to admit, ‘beautiful’ had not been one of them. “Well.” He said, cringing, not wanting to offend the plant’s tastes. 

“Just waiting.” It spoke again, “Clawing to get free. Just behind the door.” It whispered slowly. “Knock, knock, knock.” They giggled once more. 

Alphys shivered beside the skeleton’s leg where she kept low, ready to dash at any sign of threat.

“Not sure I’m picking up what you mean?” He asked. This was the strangest interaction he’d had, this week at least. 

The plant shivered again, “To be trapped, behind bars. _Reaching out_. So close now. So close to snatching the key.” 

“Who?” Alphys spoke for the first time.

“He wants to consume you. _But,_ you are more use to him in play.” They continued in a sing-song voice. “How unfortunate for you. To have to wait to be taken.” They sighed sadly, “No matter, we’ll all be taken eventually. The sooner, the more joyous you’ll be.” The magic surrounding Shrubgrub was warm, loving even. 

“Why haven’t y-you b-been taken?” Alphys asked. Papyrus wondered whether she was following this any closer than he was. Confusion clouded the lizard’s face.

“Because like you, I’m needed. But unlike you, I’ve _seen_ him.” They answered directly, for the first time this conversation. “I have an important job- to carry out what he wants. He’d like to see you, would you like to see him?”

They gestured over to the what looked like oily pooling tar with a leafy arm. It began to bubble much more aggressively than previous. 

Alphys stepped back a few paces. “Who?” She asked again, urgency in her voice. 

The bubbling increased still, like it was silently boiling. Strange pale shapes beginning to form within. The plant monster giggled. “Why, you know who. _Don’t you remember him?_ How could you forget Dr Gaster?” 

Instantly, a pale bony hand formed within the black liquid, it reached out. A film seemed to stop it, blocking it from crawling into their world.

A blinding pain seemed to blast through Papyrus’s eye sockets, wrapping his skull in a knifelike touch. With a yelp, he flinched back, Alphys seemed to be experiencing a similar thing. Her tail quivered as she gasped. 

Another hand manifested within the void then another and another. All clawed at the force confining them. Something larger loomed just beyond their vision, obscured behind the hands which frantically attempted to break free. 

Papyrus looked away, the pain in his head too much. His legs felt like jelly. He stumbled back, fear of the unknown bathing every one of his bones in a frigid cold. Alphys persisted. She fought the instinct to run, curiosity getting the better of her. 

Shrubgrub was giggling once again, their voice shrill and disconcerting, the sound coming individually from each of their three heads. 

Daring, Papyrus glanced back. He instantly wished he hadn’t.  
A distorted face, broken, silently screaming. Pale, dead looking with wide purple eyes that streamed with energy amongst the black bonds. If the very idea of death had a face, it would be this.

For an instant, as he looked at it, Papyrus understood _everything._ The feeling of absolute infinity rushed through him. Like he had made some sort of connection to this being. Gaster. The original Royal Scientist before Alphys. Alphys, the one who’s fears rest in the terrifying failed experiments hidden in her basement. The amalgamates, some of them people Papyrus knew, including Sanwdrake’s mother. Snowdrake, a young person acting out thanks to the distance he experienced from his family, he had been friends with the Wendigo child. Witti, Witti had seen Gaster, they’d also had an experience like this. Witti had seen a human, an undiscovered one. Papyrus had seen them too and now through them, Gaster had seen the human also. The cycle repeating, never ending.  
Eyes closed, eyes. Sans always had strange eyes, shining, dull, dark, void, something in the void. Something was wrong, something was wrong with Sans. Papyrus would have to act quick or he’d lose Sans! A flash of white and blue disappearing into dust and blackness. It was followed by yellow doing the same, then a large green shape, tall blue, white, purple, white and tiny, midnight blue, small and green-.

Alphys _screamed._

She recoiled back into the mud, squirming, jumping up and yanking Papyrus’s scarf. The tug made the skeleton stumble. Dragging him not only away from the vile image of Gaster, which tried to sear itself into his memory, but also the ocean of thoughts and visions overlapping and interconnecting in his head. 

Papyrus caught himself with his forearm against the ground. Alphys tugged at his shirt, wild eyes and gasping breath, her snout inches from his own nose. Her idea was clear, pleading. Papyrus nodded, wanting nothing more than to _get away right now._

He scrambled to his feet and wasted no time bolting down the otherwise silent dirt path. Feet slipped and skidded on mossy rocks and muddy puddles. Alphys at his heels. Followed by the sound of Shrubberthree’s laughing (That was it’s name, how could he not have known?).

Neither stopped running the whole way back to Undyne’s house. Papyrus’s mind was blank other than the need to run, _just run!_ A base instinct resting in pure terror. 

The Captain could barely contain her shock when her two friends barrelled through her front door. Alphys was covered with mud, Papyrus not much better. The yellow monster collapsed onto Undyne’s floor, gasping like she was at deaths door. Papyrus grasped onto the side of the table to steady himself, his soul jumping like a frightened animal having narrowly avoided its predator. 

“W-what the? Wait, are you guys ok?” Undyne yelled, mouth agape.

Immediately, Alphys and Papyrus launched into explanation of their ordeal. Both shouting over the other, barely stopping to breath. Undyne looked between them, confused. 

“Wait, stop!” She cried, silencing her upset friends. “Ok, now one at a time, did something attack you?” 

Papyrus and Alphys looked at one another. They both shook their heads. 

“Ok.” Undyne continued, with some relief in her voice, “Anyone hurt?” 

Again, the others shook their heads. “I don’t t-think so.” Alphys stuttered.

“Then the hell is the matter?” Undyne asked, flustered.

“Um.” Said Papyrus, looking again to Alphys for confirmation. “We found something scary in the woods.” He said, struggling to align his thoughts into an order of events. In fact, he was having trouble remembering any events, everything about the incident was becoming hazier by the second. 

Undyne made a gesture for him to continue.

“It was… umm. I don’t…” He turned to Alphys who looked lost. She shrugged still breathing hard. 

“You didn’t see it?” Undyne asked, trying to reach some idea of what had spooked her friends so much.

“Yes! Well, maybe?” Papyrus replied, unhelpfully. Again, searching for Alphys’ acknowledgement. Like before, the lizard shrugged. 

Getting exasperated now, Undyne sighed, “Anything?!” 

“I d-don’t remember.” Alphys squeaked, “I j-just know it was something… bad.” 

“Mega helpful, thank you guys.” The Captain turned, heading to the kitchen. “I’m making you all tea. Sit down and try to chill, yeah? You aren’t hurt, that’s all I really care about. Whatever’s out there will sort itself out, you know Waterfall, we get all sorts.” 

Papyrus sank into a seat, pulling one out beside him and beckoning Alphys to join. She slowly crawled up next to him. 

“You d-don’t remember anything e-either?” Alphys asked in a hushed tone. 

Papyrus shook his head, the experience leaving him feeling rather out of sorts. “No. nothing.”

He pondered the bazaar feeling, his head felt… empty. Was it something to do with shock? He’d heard of monsters having memory lapses thanks to traumatic events. Would that happen to both of them though? It was all very confusing. 

A mug slammed down in front of him, startling both Papyrus and Alphys. 

“Jeez, you two.” Undyne remarked. “C’mon, you’ll feel better if ya drink up.” Concern for her friends in her voice, though her energy field subtly gave off her humour. 

They seemed to calm much quicker with the help of a hot drink. Undyne had been nice enough to not boil their drinks passed the point of being edible, the way she usually liked it. 

“Well. If either of you get hit with a bolt of inspiration, then feel free to share it with me.” Undyne smiled, taking a seat in front of the pair, holding her own mug. Steam cascading from its rim, filling the room with scent of herbal tea.

A thought struck Papyrus in a moment of awareness. “Say, Undyne, where is Sans?” 

The Captain gripped her mug, a crack running down its handle with a click. “Oh. Right.” She said, turning sour. She pointed over her shoulder at her bathroom door. “Went in there about an hour ago. Locked the door, won’t come out.” 

“Oh. How strange.” Papyrus frowned. 

Undyne was up and out of her seat in a flash. She banged on the door with a hard fist, enough that it shook the walls. “Oi, your bro is back, you can clear off now!” She shouted through the door. 

They waited. No reply came. Oh goodness, what if Sans had felt unwell and collapsed, something must have been very wrong. 

Alphys chuckled. “Check your phone Papyrus.” She said. 

Sure enough, there sat an unread message from his brother.  
_‘Hi bro, your motivation inspired me so took a walk. At home. Had a nice chat with undyne.’_

“He’s gone home?!” Yelled Undyne, banging on her door once more for good measure. 

Alphys laughed, facepalming. 

“It’s not funny!” Undyne cried. Giving the door a kick. locked from the inside. 

“What d-did you say t-to upset him?” Alphys laughed out.

Papyrus threw his hands on his hips, “Oh Undyne, you didn’t!” He said, disappointed. 

“Oh c’mon!” She said, throwing her arms wide. “I’m not the only one who thinks he's super suspicious, right?” 

“What do you mean by that?” Papyrus snapped back.

Alphys snorted, “Yeah, g-go on, Undyne.” 

The warrior seemed all too pleased to give her thoughts. “I’ve been taking my own notes from what you’ve given me.” She began, nodding to Papyrus. “One, Sans was seen at the time and place of the first murder. Two, he has the means to cause the equivalent damage from both killings with his magic. Three, On the night of the second murder he was gone for an extended period of time and I have reason to believe he could have travelled there in time.” 

“Hang on a moment!” Papyrus stopped her, “Your first point may be correct but two and three are a bit of a stretch. Sans can’t use magic like that.  
And he certainly doesn’t have the will to carry out something like that!” Papyrus defended. 

Alphys giggled, enjoying the debate between her friends, “Pfft, you s-should have seen him when we went to Waterfall Depths, he took on four monsters all on his own!” She giggled. The others turned to face her, looks of shock and mild disbelief on their faces. 

“When was that?” Papyrus asked,

“Mmm, n-nothing, nope, I s-said nothing.” She stuttered.

“For real? What were you guys doing down there?” Undyne chipped in, equally as bewildered as Papyrus.

Alphys seemed to deflate, “Day after t-the human was here. I needed some help collecting samples for… s-science things.” 

“He never told me that!” Gasped Papyrus, not that Sans told him a whole lot. Still, he could have been hurt! 

“That proves my point.” Undyne continued. “You checked the cameras around Hotland, around when Ignis died?” 

“Not myself.” Alphys admitted. “Sans did that.” 

The Captain nodded, “So he could have lied.” She waited for Papyrus to speak. The skeleton just sat frowning, waiting for her next accusations.  
“Reason four, he uses blue magic. Five, if this whole thing about Resets are true, then, from what Alph has told me, Sans could have wanted to steal those papers.” 

“That’s the second time I’ve heard about ‘Resets’ today!” Papyrus said. “…But what does that have to do with Sans?” 

Undyne looked at Alphys, who now wore a slightly worried look. “Potentially a lot.” 

“…If he wanted t-to become the next anomaly?” Alphys theorised to Undyne.

Papyrus watched as the other nodded, “He’s got the motive for it, and everything else. Plus, he’s been hanging out at the lab with you a lot recently; you’ve got the means to make all that happen locked in the lab, right? Right?” Undyne said, leaning over the table. 

Alphys looked about as if trying to find the answer written on the table. “Umm, yes a-and no. It’d be a start if that were t-the case though. Though, I’m certain Sans w-wouldn’t need the papers, pretty sure he has them all memorised. Probably wrote half of them himself.” 

“What are you talking about?” Asked Papyrus, rather annoyed that he was left totally clueless in this situation. “You mean those papers that were stolen? I asked Sans to find out their meaning. He never got back to me about them.” 

Again, Undyne nodded as if this were a confirmation of her thoughts. 

“Are you trying to pin Sans as the killer? _Sans?_ Besides he had an excuse for the first night, he was with Grillby.” The skeleton laughed, dumbstruck. 

“I don’t have a motive yet.” Admitted Undyne, “But that night when did he tell you he would be going to see Grillby?”

“No. He hadn’t been up to leaving the house at all that week.” He sighed, “Though there is one thing… I tried to cheer Sans up by getting food from the bar. Grillby wrote something on the inside of the fires bag. I did not read it, invasion of privacy and all that. That night, Sans had snuck away.” 

“And did anyone actually see him with Grillby that night?” The Captain asked.

“No.” It was true, even if Sans had been with his friend, he had still been seen outside, alone around the time of the murder, as Papyrus had been told. Was Grillby the real culprit? Had he been using Sans? It was clear the monster had enough anger and destructive force to kill a monster- crush their soul in his hand even! What if Grillby and Sans had never been dating at all? That would explain the lack of emotion between them. 

“You not keen on Grillby?” Asked Undyne, clearly picking up on Papyrus’s state. 

He shook his head, “Not particularly.” He said. 

“Alph, you got any reason for Sans to want ol’ macaroni guy dead?” Undyne asked, taking a sip of her tea. 

Alphys thought for a while before shaking her head. “Got any r-reason for him to kill t-the old lady?” She asked back, sceptically.

“Dodgy business stuff. That’s the only thing that’ll fit. I can imagine Sans getting into that. Especially when you were living in the Capital, “She added onto the end, fighting the slightly offended look Papyrus was giving her. “Anything to survive.” 

“I hardly think Sans would c-care about past dodgy business stuff though.” Alphys contested, “He's s-still breaking rules constantly anywho.” 

“Could you stop please.” Papyrus butted in, his voice pained. They had no right to talk about his brother like this. They were supposed to be friends. “It’s not Sans.” 

“C’mon Pap.” Undyne said, clearly not picking up on her friend’s vulnerability. “I think the two of you have a lot to talk about. Lemme tell ya’, there’s a lot you don’t know about dear ol’ Sans.” 

“Undyne.” Alphys warned.

“No, Undyne. That is not true!” Papyrus replied firmly, leaving no room for argument. Even though in the back of his mind, he very much doubted his words. He stood up from the table. “He is your friend and you have no right to say such things.”

Undyne stood too, “Oh, Paps, please.”

“No.” He said.

“Fine, fine. Look, just… I’ll leave it, just promise me you’ll at least look into it.” She tried.

“I already have a new key suspect.” He bit back.

Alphys shifted in her seat, “I don’t think the little dog is the killer…” She sweated. 

“Please Paps, for me. Prove he’s innocent and I’ll shut up.” Undyne asked once more.

He sighed, “Fine. If I get the opportunity.” He said dismissively. “May I remind that you are his friends, why not look yourselves?”

Alphys put her hands up, “Leave me out of t-this, I love the guy.” 

“Well, that’s a start, I guess.” Undyne clapped a hand to his shoulder, clear she was getting no further with this, “Sorry for upsetting ya!” 

“S’ok.” He merely replied. Out of words. Papyrus finished his drink, thanked his friends for their company and took his leave. Almost instantly, he dismissed their suspicions of his brother.

Feeling oddly more miserable than he arrived, Papyrus was eager for the long walk back to Snowdin. Time for him to digest todays’ happenings.


	19. Crafting an alibi

“Me?” Sans asked incredulously from his cocoon of blankets on his bed. “Why’d they suspect me?” 

Papyrus loomed in his doorway, not daring to take any further steps into the disaster of a bedroom. He eyed the upturned porridge bowl where it lay on Sans’ carpet. “Indeed, she seems to have everything all worked out. Not that I exactly understood everything being said but, well, they do.” He said.

“Well, you know I’m not one of Undyne’s favourite people.” Sans shrugged, trying not to let this information bother him. Honestly, it shouldn’t have, of course the Captain would be looking for some dirt on him after their recent encounters. 

His brother crossed his arms, clothes still covered in mud from his and Alphys’ run. Sans wondered vaguely what could have happened. “Oh, she had enough reasons to suspect you, I think after me and Alphys chipped in, there were about, hmm, seven reasons.” He said light-heartedly. 

“You and Alphys chipped in?” Sans repeated back. “Well thanks bro.” He said in somewhat real offence. “What exactly were these reasons?”

“Oh, you know when a discussion gets going, can’t just let it go without contributing.” The taller skeleton nervously laughed, stopping abruptly upon seeing Sans’ hurt expression. “So, the reasons were- you can’t prove you were with Grillby on the night of the first murder, someone still saw you outside. You magic is apparently capable of causing the damage the victims sustained, not really sure how.” Papyrus listed, counting on his fingers as he went.  
“You being capable of getting to the second victim and back again at the time of the murder. Still, not entirely sure how. They speculated you wanted the documents which were stolen. Something about Resets, motive, being the next anomaly? And a bunch of other words I didn’t understand.” He chuckled.

Sans tried his best to keep a straight face. “Dunno what that’s all about.” He said, voice hitching. The prospect that Papyrus had been told everything that Sans had not wanted him to know scared him more than he’d admit. “They, um, have any evidence?” He tried to laugh.

Papyrus eyed him suspiciously, “No, not exactly.” He answered. “They said that you could have been lying about a lot. You’re not lying are you, Sans?”

Sans felt a bubbling in his chest. “N-no. Why’d I do that?” He lied badly. 

His brother frowned, clearly not missing a thing. The bubbling in Sans’ chest increased. “You sure? Nothing?” 

Sans shook his head. 

“Ok. Well. I’m glad you at least spent some time with Undyne and got some exercise. Sorry if she said something mean, I know she has quite a… strong personality.” Papyrus said, taking a step back. 

“Heh, its ok bro. I don’t mind her getting her flippers in a twist here and there.” Sans answered, sinking further into his blanket cocoon. 

His brother nodded as he moved to close the bedroom door, “You are alright though, yes?” 

“Couldn’t be better.” Sans grinned in what he hoped would be a tension defusing way. “By the way, you cool if I go eat at Grillby’s later? Asking ‘cause I know you’ve been worried about me.”

At that, Papyrus grinned back, “Of course, thank you for telling me!” He moved to close the door before opening it again, moving back into the doorway. “Grillby, he’s… alright, isn’t he?” 

“Alright?” Sans questioned, “Eh, yeah. I think so, only text him once since what happened the other day. Hopefully those news people have backed off a little now, don’t wanna get burned.” He joked. 

“Yes, well.” Papyrus said, staring at the upturned bowl on the floor, once again. “I mean more like. How do I put this? Is he alright… with you?” He asked, nervously. 

Sans blinked slowly, “With… me?” He parroted back. 

“Mmhm.” His brother agreed. 

“Uhh, good. We’re good.” Sans answered not knowing where to really go with that question, especially since the pair had never actually been dating. Not that Papyrus needed to know that. “You mean is he nice to me.” 

His brother cringed where he clung to the doorframe, “I guess. I want you to be happy, Sans.” 

“Aww, don’t worry, bro! I’m not some fragile maiden too in love to see the terrible fire monster is using me.” He said in a whimsical tone, as if quoting an old play. 

Papyrus laughed without humour, “Super! I would expect nothing else from such an… upstanding gentleman.” He said, starting to close the door once more. 

Now it was Sans’ turn to see though the obvious lie. Was Papyrus seriously worried that Grillby was mistreating him? Grillby, of all people? The idea was quite laughable, in Sans’ opinion. 

The door immediately swung open once more, “One more thing. Next time you got down to Waterfall and get yourself into a fight, do let me know. I worry about you.” Papyrus said with a strange smile. Leaving Sans stunned, he fully closed the door this time, letting it click shut.

“Um, sure bro. Seeya later.” He said, watching Papyrus shuffle away.

Sans sunk into his blankets. Undyne could be a real nuisance sometimes; she had no right to pin these killings on him, even less to get Alphys and his brother involved also. It had obviously bothered Papyrus, he seemed more rattled than normal. Certainly not fair to spring that one on him after he’d had to the Egg incident only a few days ago. They’d talked about Resets and possibly Sans’ modified magical abilities. 

Alphys should have known he didn’t want that discussed, at the very least. He had told her at some point about his fears of Papyrus ever discovering all of that, more trouble than it was worth. His brother already worried about enough things; he didn’t need Sans’ issues adding to the pile. 

Alphys remembered him saying that, right? Maybe? Had it been in an erased timeline? San couldn’t remember. 

Had she also forgotten their agreement to not mention what had happened in Lower Waterfall? He doubted it. 

Suspended. That word rang louder than the idea of Undyne’s accusations. He’d really messed up. Another thing which was Undyne’s fault. If she hadn’t forced him to fight, he would still be securely in his job. 

She hadn’t forced anything though, Sans knew that. Undyne merely laid the bait which he had dived straight on. Even still, they had seen his soul. You don’t get thirteen Levels of Violence from nowhere and you defiantly don’t expect to be kept within the Royal Court with those to your name. 

Honestly, Sans knew he was lucky to be alive. It would haven been well with Toriel’s power to order his death right there and then.  
Pulling the blankets over his head, Sans returned to his favourite state of pretending not to care.

 

Picking up essentials from Snowdin’s tiny family run shop was always a chore Papyrus enjoyed. Skipping through the fluffy snow, greeting locals as he went.  
Though, today was not quite the same, he could not bring himself to express his usual level of joy. 

The snow seemed greyer than usual, if that was possible. The clouds closer and darker. 

As the large pine in the centre of town approached, so too did the Dog’s memorial. From a distance, it looked as if a ball of cotton had been stuck to the branches of the tree. Curious, the skeleton walked closer. When he neared however, he did not find some sort of decoration messily stuck to the tree, as he imagined; the white blob was in fact a monster. 

The small cloud creature hovered still in the air, they appeared to be crying. Droplets of water fell from the light grey fluffy body, they made little squeaks and hiccups, their many faces screwed up with emotion. 

“Hello there. Are you ok?” Papyrus asked gently, as he stopped near to the monster. 

They sniffled, a shiver running down their tiny body. “O-oh! Y-yes, I’m f-fine.” They said, clearly not fine at all. 

Papyrus moved closer, hoping he wasn’t intruding. “Were they your friends?” He asked in a softer tone than he usually used.

“Not r-really.” They said, more droplets of water raining from their body. 

He waited a while before speaking again, when the monster beside him had calmed ever so slightly. “You wouldn’t be Cloudfive, would you? My brother, Sans mentioned you.”

They glanced over, their many tiny faces peering up at Papyrus. “C-close its Cloudnine. Y-you don’t see many skeletons.” They squeaked, every bit of surrounding magic screaming sorrow and an odd emptiness. It seemed to contradict their original statement.

He laughed, feeling mildly awkward for getting their name incorrect. “Yes, our species are few and far between. I like to think both me and my brother are cool enough to not need any other skeleton friends.” He said, cheerily.

Cloud wobbled as they giggled, the sound ending with a large sniff. “That’s nice. Sans is r-really cool. He was the first local I m-met here. So, you m-must be Papyrus, right? He talks about you a-all the time.”

“Only good things, I hope.” Papyrus laughed. 

“I’ve seen you on the news.” They said, strange emotion in their voice.

The skeleton wrung his hands. Muddy gloves in the wash, it was strange to leave the house without them. Though healed, the scars from Lesser Dog’s teeth still marked his bone. “Yes, it was all quite a grim ordeal.” He said, running the end of his digits over the marks. They looked ugly, not the kind of cool battle scar he hoped.

“Actually, I w-was thinking more the morning news with Mettaton. It was y-you who got him with the bear trap? Right?” They said.

“Umm, yes. Indeed, it was.” The skeleton cringed. He coughed and changed the subject, “I’m in charge of the Snowdin Sentries, I’m the one who’s been trying to track down the miscreant responsible for the two murders lately.” 

Cloudnine hummed, “Was being a Sentry what you always wanted to do? You always s-seem so happy.” 

Not expecting that question, Papyrus preferred it to talking about the Egg incident right now, “Not exactly. It’s more a step in the right direction.” Papyrus explained, “My dream is to be a member of the Royal Guard. Since I can remember, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. Captain Undyne is training me… Though we’ve been at that for quite some time now and she always seems to avoid the question when I ask about progressing.” He admitted.

“What makes you wanna do that? It can be super tough work, especially having to fight. I don’t think I could do that.” Cloud asked, the conversation calming them as they stared at Greater Dog’s crumpled armour. 

He thought for a moment before replying, “I’ve always wanted to help people. The Guard are such an inspiration to me. They’ll be the ones making sure we’re safe when we finally reach the surface. For now, they keep us safe down here. I’ve learned so much from Undyne and the Sentries and I never want to stop pushing myself.” 

Cloud glanced over with a sceptical look, they seemed to have trouble believing all of Papyrus’s previous statement. They seemed to shake off the look, opting to continue with another question. “You won’t be happy until you’ve reached your goal?” They asked. 

“I suppose.” He hummed as he thought about the question. “I’m already happy. I love Snowdin, have some great friends and I’m on the right track with what I want to be doing. But I don’t think I’ll feel totally fulfilled until I get there.” Papyrus folded his arms, staring off into the distant trees.

The water droplets had mostly stopped falling from Cloud’s fluffy mass. “You seem to have everything figured out.” 

Papyrus scratched at the back of his skull, “Well, I try as much as I can.” He said simply. 

“What if your dream was taken away, if you couldn’t do that?” Cloud asked in a curious but fractionally darker tone.

“Um…” Papyrus had to admit, he hadn’t particularly considered that. Once deciding the Guard was the path he wished to take his life, he hadn’t really considered much else. “I’m not sure.” He grinned down at the floating monster, “Anything that would be fun, I’m sure there would be lots of things I might enjoy. I’m quite content with the simple things. I think, for me, I don’t need to reach incredible feats like breaking the barrier or becoming Captain of the Guard to feel accomplished. I’m quite content to live with what I’ve been given. Any extra is just a bonus. Though co-staring with Mettaton would be nice.” He added in humour at the end.

Cloud waited until they were sure the skeleton was done. “That’s really nice, t-thank you.”

Their voice wavered, as if about to break down once more. Papyrus opened his mouth to continue but was silenced when Cloud continued, much to his surprise. “When I was young, I was kinda t-the same. All I ever wanted to do was be a Doctor or just, well anything medical based. I wasn’t the brightest monster but I kept trying and trying. All I ever wanted to do was help people, it pushed me to finally break through. They found an area I was best at. First response if a monster somewhere got injured or sick. It worked for me, I was small and fast. I had a powerful soul, ideal for supporting monsters, if their own soul might give out.” 

They lapsed into silence for a while. Looking down. Papyrus could feel the sadness still coming off them in waves though this was different from their previous feelings. The emptiness was still there, something missing. Accompanied by a sad nostalgia for happier days.

“Trouble with that, is patients can die on you. It happened a few times. I hated it. Began to realise my dream wasn’t all I originally hoped. There isn’t much you can do for a soul, when it’s dying, when someone is falling down. You can save them, but at the cost of your own soul.” Cloudnine explained. “I just couldn’t let anyone else die.” Another shiver rippled through them. “I quit after that. My family thought I was an idiot for, well, everything. We lost touch. Everything was terrible. But… But he was there. Sure, most things were terrible because of him but we still tried. Damn we tried. 

“What did you do?” Papyrus asked, interested and just roughly keeping up with what the other was saying. 

“What I always should have done, meteorology. I study the weather, always been my hobby.” They said with a smile. “It keeps me out of town. I just got back today. I was in the Capital when all of this happened.” Their form bobbed, in a motion towards the memorial. “I’m sure it couldn’t have been helped. I j-just wish m-maybe you’d given him a chance. Maybe n-no one would have had to die.” They barely finished before choking again with emotion. 

Papyrus put out a hand for comfort. 

“Sorry.” Cloud, jolted away in the air. They floated around Papyrus, looking back at him. “I know y-you d-didn’t mean it. B-but please try to catch t-them, he was s-so close.” Then, with a flash, they swam through the air around a corner and out of sight. 

Left feeling upset and shocked, Papyrus stood watching the space Cloud had disappeared into. Had he been talking about Egg? Were they friends? Closer than friends? Surely not, that monster was, well, a monster! Pardon the phrase, of course. It was never the less true. 

What an odd encounter. With nothing more to do, the skeleton continued on path to his intended destination, bidding farewell to the remains of Greater Dog and Doggo. 

 

Sans slid the door open to his favourite bar late in the afternoon. He was surprised to find it darker than usual. The culprit for this happened to be the smashed front windows. Sans had failed to notice them on his approach, blocked up with heavy cardboard and thick tape. 

More surprising was the lack of patrons, usually the bar was buzzing at this hour. The only monsters here were Pink Bird and Grillby himself. The two seemed to be conversing at the bar. Pink Bird laughed happily, kicking her feet back and forth where they hung. They turned as he approached.

“Sans!” She shouted, holding her feathered arms wide. “Look at you, fighting fit again!” She beckoned him over. Sans took the stool beside her and was immediately dragged into an oddly tight but soft hug. 

He laughed and patted her back, “Hey, nice to see you guys. Sorry for last time, I, urr, dropped in so rudely.” 

“Aww, c’mere, lets see that knock.” She pulled his cow suit down by the shoulder with one hand and turned his head with the other to examine the tiny crack in the back of his skull. Sans let her rough handling go without too much protest. “There we go, lookin’ nice now. An’ here I was thinkin’ we were going to have to amputate!” She tapped the side of Sans’ skull for emphasis. “Ay, Grillby, see that? Ya can stop worrying about him now.” She squawked. 

Grillby merely turned for a moment and nodded. 

Sans was finally released, he reshuffled back onto his stool. “Looking a bit thin on the ground today aren’t we?” Tilting his head to the otherwise empty bar. 

She nodded, lowering her head in sadness. “Lesser still isn’t well. Hasn’t gotten over the others, of course. The poor pup can barely stand, his heads all like this-.” She imitated the dog, hanging her head to the side and flopping her weird bird tongue out of the side of her beak. “Think that bump knocked him ‘round a bit more than we thought.” She said, taking a sip of her nearly empty glass. 

“You heard from the Dogamy and Ressa?” Sans asked. He remembered Dogamy’s crooked bleeding face and two healers frantically scurrying around him. 

In response, she shook her head, “Still in the hospital. Ressa’s fine but Mr Dogi had some major surgery.” She motioned around her beak, “Whole of his face, his snout? Smashed! That Egg bastard hit him hard, I’ll tell you that!” 

“Oh, damn.” Sans said, quite shocked. The Dogi family were lovely, two of his favourite monsters. They didn’t deserve something like that to happen.  
Pink Bird continued, “Might have to remove most of his top jaw. Poor Ressa hasn’t left him for a second… Still, he’s alive, won’t go down easily that one.” She stopped for another swig, “As for everyone else, well… it’s those damn news crews, everyone wants a piece of the Underground’s new star.” She jabbed an elbow in Grillby’s direction, who busied himself about the bar. “Keep telling him to seize the opportunity and start his own show. He’ll overtake Mettaton at this rate.” She turned to the elemental, “Just think, Grillbz, ya could have your own resort like that robot git on TV!” 

‘I’d rather move back to Hotland.’ Came the reply, the slightest edge of humour in his voice. 

“Long story short, no one wants to come here at the moment. Either scared of the reporters or, well… worried about this one.” Pink Bird, jabbed the air in the bartender’s direction once more. Her voice taking on a more sombre tone. 

“Seriously?” Sans quietly asked. Hard to read as he was, the others should have known that Grillby was, ironically, the most chilled monster in the Underground. It disappointed him to a greater degree than it should, that others had such a lack of sight when judging their friend. 

Pink nodded. “Shame you didn’t come in earlier, I’ve gotta catch the River Man, staying with m’ sisters in Waterfall tonight.” She said, downing the rest of her drink. The light in the room died substantially as Grillby slipped through the door to his back room. 

The bird monster wasted no time leaning closer to Sans once more. “You should have seen him when that awful fight was going on, all worried, not knowing what to do. Think he wanted to help but didn’t wanna step on the Sentries’ toes.” She whispered. Sans regarded her curiously. 

“But then, crash! You come flying through the window!” She pointed over at the boarded space on the wall. “Never seen ol’ Grillbz do anything quite like it, he was faunin’ over you like some helpless Romeo. Grabbed ya’ like you were gonna dust there and then. Kept coming forwards ‘n backing off, like he might have burned you. Then, he says somethin’ I don’t dare repeat and walks out. An’, well, I suppose you know the rest if you’ve watched the news.” 

Sans blinked, feeling slightly dumb. “What, really?” He said, dropping his grin. 

“Really.” She smiled. “Why, is he not normally that affectionate?” She giggled.

“Well… guess not.” He blinked slowly once more. Not really having the vaguest idea of what to say in this situation. Wow, Grillby was really good at this pretend relationship thing!

She clasped a firm hand to his shoulder, “Done well for ya’self there. He’s a right keeper.” She winked, hopping down from her stool. “Off now, seeya, Grillbz!” She shouted into the backroom. 

Grillby’s fiery form re-emerging with a handful of sauce packets. He waved her off. An action Sans copied, with a last goodbye. She swayed through the door, seemingly bumping into someone hidden just beyond. They heard her shout, “Oi! Damn TV asshole, mind where ya’ putting your rubbish!” 

It seemed like someone had snuck up to the door when Sans had entered. “All trying to get a piece of you, aren’t they?” 

Grillby sighed, smoke rising from his head at the action. ‘I was going to close. You are welcome to stay though.’ The elemental said into Sans’ mind. ‘I’m also afraid I don’t have any bottles.’ He said.

“Sweet, this is fine.” Sans replied, gathering the packets, tearing one open while slipping the others into his pockets. “But, yeah. Sounds good.” It seemed like Grillby had all but finished tidying the moment Pink Bird left. Clearly the bar had been quiet all day, or the bartender desperately needed a break. “Upstairs?” Sans asked.

‘We can. I’ve been rather hoping to get out of here all day. Strangely enough, I don’t like to be followed everywhere I go.’ He said, glancing in the direction of the door where a badly concealed shape flitted around the door.

“Walk somewhere then?” Suggested Sans.

‘I thought you hated walking.’

“I do, you should feel honoured I’m offering.” He grinned back. 

It was this moment when Sans noticed right hand. Between bandages, it was dull and had the appearance of cracked rock. Only the odd wispy flame seemed to flicker before disappearing into nothing.  
Sans pointed down to his own hand, “You ok?”

Grillby glanced down, he adjusted the wrapping and tugged at his sleeve. It seemed uncomfortable, especially if it rose all the way up his arm. ‘It will heal.’ He said, shifting in a way which made him seem uneasy.

The flame monster shuffled out of the room almost nervously. Sans blinked in surprise at the uncharacteristically self-conscious movements his friend made. Searching his memory, Sans vaguely recalled the news footage of the fight. A strange blue attack enclosing around part of Grillby, dousing much of his flame. Sans figured it must have caused a lasting injury. More to the point, was Grillby embarrassed about getting hurt? The idea of that made Sans huffed a laugh and shake his head.  
What a strange monster the elemental was. 

Not even a minute later, Grillby returned wrapped in a scarf and thick coat. He seemed eager to leave the bar, not that Sans blamed him. He imagined that Grillby felt like he was under house arrest.

They took a shortcut onto the path through Snowdin Forest, just beyond the town’s welcome sign. Crunching through the thick snow which still remained there from the last fall, several days previous. The temperature today wasn’t so frigid either, though that was defiantly helped by Grillby’s nearby presence. 

Grillby stopped to breath in the fresh pine smell, his flames growing a brighter more vibrant orange. He looked truly happy to be out of his dark, confined home. Though it had really, only been a short while, the time had clearly taken a toll on the monster. His usually suppressed magic field jumped with liberation. 

They followed the main path away from the town. No other monsters bothering the pair as they continued towards the sheer cliff faces. The old rope bridges might have looked precarious to larger monsters, but they had never instilled worry in Sans. As they crossed, he stared down over the edge at the long drop below. The skeleton stopped to peer over the thick rope, wondering just how far down it was to the lower forest floor. 

Stopping also, Grillby waited, seeming curious in what exactly his friend was doing. Sans hummed a nonsense tune to himself. He had seen Flowey throw some poor monster off this edge at some point. It felt like a strange dream now- possibly because the scene, like many others had repeated themselves in his head many a time while he slept. It nonetheless felt very distant now. Otherworldly. Sans wondered whether a monster falling from this height would dust instantly. Maybe fall to bits slowly?  
He was dragged from his morbid thoughts by a voice in his head. 

‘I’m glad you were ok.’ 

“Hmm?” Sans turned to face the elemental. If Grillby was bothered by the height of the old bridge, he did not show it. “Oh, yeah. They’ll have to try harder if they wanna crack me up.” 

Grillby looked off into the distance at the odd coloured glow of rock monsters crawling up the cavern wall, twinkling in the distance. He waited patiently for Sans to finish whatever it was he was doing, staring down at the distant snowy floor. 

“I’ve gotta apologise.” Sans said, voice lacking energy. “You were trying to help the other day. I had no right to snap at you.” 

‘I could have been nicer. It is I who should be sorry.’ Grillby said, stuffing gloved hands into his pockets. 

Sans chuckled, though it lacked any humour. “Well, you were right. I should have listened to you. Made a real arse of myself.” He said, unfolding a crumpled paper from his pocket- the Queen’s memo. 

Taking it, Grillby read slowly, eyes taking in each word carefully. ‘It went well then.’, He said, finally looking up. 

“Oh, great.” Sans answered sarcastically. “Would’ve thought you’d figured out id been suspended. The news reported the Judgment Hall being closed for a while.”

‘I’ve stayed away from the news.’ Grillby said.

“Figures.” Sans replied. He should have guessed that. He doubted Grillby really wanted to rewatch the fight, even less if it contained the commentary and opinions of others. 

The elemental seemed to be waiting for Sans to explain himself.

Sans drew in a long breath and began his summery. “I was… late. Turns out it was group assessments with Alphys and Undyne.” He said with mock joy. “They saw my soul and I got into a fight with Undyne. Don’t think Tori knows what to do with me now.” 

Grillby watched his friend lean on the rope, it creaked as Sans glared at the ground below. ‘I see… Did you at least manage to find your outfit?’ 

“No.” Sans said bitterly. “Pyjamas.” 

He was sure that, had Grillby been even one degree more expressive than he was, he would have cringed. Maybe facepalmed. Anything to show his disappointment. Of course, he did none of those things, just looked on, purely calm.  
‘A fight with Undyne?’ Grillby asked.

“Yep. She kept pushing me. It was quite fun actually, good little throwdown.” Sans pushed himself from the rope and continued on their path. “Then Egg and his hardboiled bullshit happened. You dealin’ with it ok?” 

Grillby took a while to answer, ‘Yes. Though I wish Beansprout hadn’t recorded the whole thing and sold the film.’ He replied.

Sans tilted his head in thought, “Beansprout? What sort of a name is that?” 

‘The husband of the two bugs, the soul bound ones.’ 

Oh, yes. He remembered, the weedy brown one with the wings. He always seemed timid compared to his much more outgoing partner. Sans knew her name: Honey. The much larger green bug was often seen wondering Snowdin alone, though whenever Sans spotted Beansprout, he seemed tied to her like his life depended on it. 

“Are _you_ ok though?” Sans pushed again. 

Grillby glanced his way, ducking beneath some low pine branches, ‘In hindsight, I am quite unhappy with my actions.’ He admitted. ‘But, I am ok.’ 

Sans kicked a lump of snow as he walked, “I think we’re all happy you stepped in. Who knows what would’ve happened if you hadn’t turned up the heat.” He remembered Papyrus, wide eyed and fixed on Greater Dog’s dust, the last thing he saw before being knocked out. “We all know I was useless.” Sans laughed, though it was dark and held more meaning than a simple joke. 

‘I suppose.’ The statement held a firm finality to it. Grillby did not want to be discussing this any longer. 

They continued in silence down the trail. The path gradually widening into an open space. Some of the local children could be seen trying to skate along a frozen pond. The small group stopped and look suspiciously at the two adults as they walked by.

“Yo, Sans!” Snowdrake hopped a few paces closer, “How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?”

“Hit me with it.” Sans called back.

“Tentacles!” The young monster ruffled his wings, grinning at his amazing joke. One of his friends snickered, but they remained otherwise silent. 

Sans laughed, humouring the aspiring comedian. “Nice one, dude!” 

‘I do not understand.’ Grillby said.

Sans shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.” 

They passed a snow-covered sentry post when a thought slipped into Sans mind.  
“Oh, Grillbz? There was something I gotta mention.” He picked at the inside of his pockets. “Undyne is kinda angry with me. She’s managed to pile up a bunch of evidence against me for those murders. She’s gone and told Papyrus, which has upset him, I think. Alphys doesn’t seem to be helping either.” He said, sounding sour. “No motive for um, I don’t think, but even to me, it sounds sorta convincing. Like, I would think it were me, if I wasn’t me… If that makes sense.” He said. 

‘What are you going to do?’ Grillby asked.

“Well.” Sans said in a strange tone, “I was hoping to ask a favour.” 

Grillby waited quietly for him to continue.

Sans kept his eyes to the snow. “They have enough evidence to say I was at Ms Truffle’s when she died. They don’t know this but I was apparently at Ignis’s place too, on the night he died. Found myself on one of Alphys’ cameras, I obviously haven’t told anyone that yet though.” 

‘Apparently?’ Grillby questioned. 

“I recall going for a walk but I don’t remember ending up there.” Grillby sent him a curious look. Sans shook his head, “Don’t worry, I do that occasionally.” 

‘Are you asking me to provide another alibi for that night?’ The elemental asked.

Sans shrugged, he hated asking things of his friends, let alone something like this. “Yeah, I suppose. Thing is, I’m fairly sure that most people can see though the fact that we aren’t actually together.” He said slowly. 

‘You wish to make us more convincing?’ Grillby asked, like he was asking about the weather. 

The lack of awkwardness from Grillby’s part only served to make Sans more embarrassed. “No.” He said quickly, blushing a shade of blue which matched his magic. The colour made him look rather unwell. “Sort of, I guess?” Sans corrected, suddenly realising his instant rejection was probably rude.

‘I shall help where I can.’ Grillby said, far too calm. ‘Shall we turn back?’ 

It was a good suggestion; Sans was already feeling quite exhausted. Perhaps the other monster could pick up on that. The pair turned and followed their snowy footprints back towards Snowdin town. 

About half way back, a rustling noise caught their attention. Voices off in the trees. Initially, Sans assumed it was the children playing in the woods, though on closer inspection the sound was quite different. 

Popping out of the trees came a familiar face. Small, sandy yellow with pink eyes. Goldwell lumbered up the snowy bank, a gaggle of rather disgruntled looking monsters following behind him. He waved at both Sans and Grillby, a nervous looking wobbly smile on his wide face. 

Standing back to address the crowd, the small monster adjusted his tie. His audience quietened, looking expectant for his next words and, for some reason, quite sceptical.  
“You’ll find yourselves back on the track to Snowdin town and the last leg of our forest tour.” He announced, his dry voice sounding much scratchier than usual. Sans assumed doing these ‘tours’ had taken a lot out of Goldwell’s poor voice box. “Thank you all for your participation. Check the flier I gave you for my Undernet page, a good review would be most welcome. My online giftshop is on there too, if you like. My donation page is linked to that also.” He grinned. 

No one said a word, they stared at him, cold and grumpy. One monster in the group turned and began marching down the pathway in Snowdins direction. Goldwell laughed nervously, “Oh, someone seems eager, away we go then!” His group wasted no time in hurrying onwards. A blue snake monster hissed in the lizard’s direction. He flinched back with a yelp. 

“Hey, Gold. This your forest tours thing I saw on TV?” Sans greeted, approaching from where him and Grillby had watched. 

Goldwell attempted a laugh, it was loud and fake. “Hello friends! I hadn’t expected to see either of you here.” He spread his stubby arms wide in greeting. “Yes, indeed it is! Going well too, I’d say. Only one guest from the last fifteen groups has been devoured by a strange tree mantis.” He announced cheerily. “And let’s not mention the fifteen groups before that!” He laughed again, flashing his mismatching yellow teeth. 

Sans grinned at the crazy monster, “Well Snowdin forest’s denizens have always been known for their frosty reception… speaking of which, I thought you hated the cold weather?”

The monster peeled a glove from his hand revealing a small red pebble inside. “Oh, my friend I do rather despise these temperatures! However, I have recently discovered these. Drop them in Hotland’s magma and they stay warm for days! I have my whole suit completely lined with them, quite necessary in this vile place.” He said, sounding delighted by his apparent genius to use magical crystals to store warmth. “And worry not, I have my guests pay upfront and sign health waivers. Whatever happens in there has no legal repercussions on myself!” He said in a truly joyful voice.  
“Oh, nice one.” Sans said, neither him not Grillby seeming bothered by this odd monster’s lack of care. 

Grillby also nodded respectfully at the sandy monster who bid them a quick farewell as he realised his group were taking their guide’s distraction as an opportunity to flee.  
“See you around soon!” Goldwell called back as he waddled after his party. 

The rest of the trip home proved uneventful. A brief chat was had about Grillby’s family, who had for once attempted to contact him, now that he was suddenly being considered a celebrity. Conversation quickly turned from that point. Television shows were discussed and recommendations made. Grillby had gotten his hands on a new drama series, somehow. The chatter was mundane enough for both to find comfort, not having to think too hard. Otherwise, they walked in an enjoyable silence. The outing had been good, a nice breath of fresh air… Or as fresh as one can get in an underground cavern, filled with a decent amount of pollution and containing mostly sparse plant life. 

Their peace was interrupted the moment they entered Snowdin. A figure bounding towards them full throttle. 

“SANS” Papyrus yelled as he skidded to a halt, slipping and nearly colliding with Grillby.

Blinking in surprise, Sans quickly did check of his brother, in case some terrible disaster he befallen the town since their absence. Grillby looked to be doing the same. “Woa, what’s up bro? You ok?”

Papyrus responded by making an odd squealing sound, resembling a boiling kettle. With both hands, an envelope was thrust into Sans’ face. Lavender with swirling floral patterns and marked with the royal crest. 

“Uh, bro, you sure that’s yours?” Sans asked, nervous. 

Papyrus didn’t seem to hear him as he turned the letter over in shaky hands. Still making odd whining noises. “RECOGNITION!” He suddenly shrieked, making even Grillby jump. “Finally! The Queen has heard of my incredible drive and deserving achievements! This is it! My invitation to join the Guard!” 

Before Sans could say another word, the seal was ripped open and the letter pulled out. He cringed as the letter was quickly skim read. Papyrus’s eyes going wider and wider. When suddenly he frowned, looking confused. 

Sans coughed, “You, uhh, sure that’s addressed to you?” 

“I should think so, it was in my letterbox-.” He stopped, eyes going wide once more. A look of something like horror on his face. “It’s for you.” Papyrus whispered. 

Sans was reluctantly handed the floral scented parchment. It read:

_Dear Sans,  
My apologies about the seriousness of our most recent correspondence. It upsets me that you have not received the greatest of news as of late, as I have assured my memo will have reached you by now. _

_In addition to this, I personally apologise for what occurred during your assessment. It was intrusive and Captain Undyne had no reason to treat you so._  
The last thing I want is for friendships to be compromised by this formal affair.  
Therefor, I send you this invite to lunch and desserts, at my home. Find the date and time below. Feel free to bring a plus one. Both Undyne and Alphys have received the same invitation. 

_Looking forward to seeing you,_  
Love always,  
Torial. 

“Huh, tea with Tori. Cool.” Sans smiled, his fears disappearing.

“You? You get to go have tea with the Queen?!” Papyrus whined. “My big moment! Lost!” He yelled into his hands. 

In response, he shrugged. “Well, I get to take a plus one.” Sans said with a wink. 

Papyrus gasped, loud enough that a few nearby monsters turned looks of concern their way as they passed. “Really? You’d take me?” 

“Don’t see why not.” Sans replied, enjoying his brother’s reactions to something Sans considered pretty mundane. 

“Oh, but…” Papyrus paused, his eye catching Grillby, who stood silently observing the interaction. “You’ll be wanting to take Grillby, won’t you? He is your… boyfriend, after all.” His voice seemed to strain around the word ‘boyfriend’. 

Sans did his best to hide his cringe at _the word._ He looked at Grillby, who also seemed suddenly caught unawares. Taking Grillby would defiantly be wise, but Papyrus’s happiness was at stake. The small skeleton looked between his two nearest and dearest, unable to make a choice. 

‘Don’t worry about me.’ Grillby said to them both, then exclusively to Sans, ‘Will Undyne or Alphys take Papyrus? They are good friends, are they not?’

Sans grinned, “You know what, you can both go. Ya’ know I couldn’t be sternum enough to say no to one of you.” He looked up at Grillby and winked.  
Papyrus was overjoyed, the flung his arms in the air and swept Sans off his feet into a flying hug. It seemed this excitement outweighed his brother’s concerns about Grillby. Over the taller skeleton’s shoulder, Sans gave Grillby a thumbs up. 

‘You are most welcome.’ Grillby said, his flames flicking and eyes softening in the closest thing he could muster to a smile. 

It would seem the next few days or weeks for Sans would be fairly interesting. While being swung about by an elated Papyrus, he concluded that despite the recent issues, this was the best timeline he could have landed in.


	20. Tea and biscuites

A phone call to Alphys confirmed that her and Undyne planned to attend Toriel’s lunch date together, no plus ones. The Scientist was more than happy to arrange for Papyrus to accompany her and Undyne. That way, Sans wouldn’t have to speak to Undyne at all before the party. 

When the day came, Papyrus raced down to Waterfall to meet his friends. The skeleton had spent the whole morning as well as the previous evening planning his outfit for the event. He had settled on a cream turtleneck sweater (slightly too big which Sans could swear he had never seen before), a maroon pair of trousers (slightly too small, though the length hid under his favourite boots) and a black neck tie (which Sans had to tie for his brother). 

Sans tapped on Grillby’s back door, a ‘closed’ sign hanging in the window of the darkened bar. The sound of feet descending stairs was followed by the door swinging open. 

‘Morning.’ The elemental greeted. 

“Mornin’” Sans yawned, despite it not being early. “You look… cool.” He said.

Grillby smoothed a hand down his suit. A suit. He had worn a suit! Where had he gotten a suit?! And one which fit so perfectly?!  
‘Thank you.’ The elemental said. ‘You too.’

Sans, of course hadn’t intended on wearing anything different. Papyrus had all but pulled a sweatshirt over his brother’s head. An itchy navy-blue thing which had belonged to Papyrus until it shrunk dramatically in the wash one sad day. He had also managed to find some of his old uniform from his lab days. Though they were creased horribly, they still looked better than his usual shorts.  
“Thanks, Grillbz.” Sans laughed, shaking his head, knowing Toriel was the last monster to care what her friends wore for their lunch visit. 

They didn’t waste any time before taking a shortcut all the way into the castle at the other end of the Underground’s long cavern.  
Sans tapped on the door to the Queen’s home, calling “Knock knock!” as he did.

With a creak, the door swung open. Toriel stepped through the doorway and enveloped Sans in a warm embrace. “Sans! How good to see you.” 

“Yeah, you too, Tori.” He replied, hugging her hard as he could. 

When they broke apart, Toriel turned to Grillby. She held out her palm, yellow flames enveloped her hand. She held it out for the other monster to shake.  
“You must be Grillby. How lovely to finally meet you! Look how nice you dressed up! I’m flattered but it rather makes me look like a mess.” This time it was Toriel who looked like she was still in pyjamas, with a thick fluffy jumper thrown over.

Her gesture seemed to surprise Grillby, he let his magic openly show his appreciation. The elemental met her with a light handshake.  
“I’ve met many elementals.” Toriel said, the flames of her hand mingling and entwining with Grillby’s. 

Sans looked on, confused by this display. Grillby dipped his head in a bow. ‘Most wonderful to meet you also, your majesty.’ He said.

Toriel squeezed his hand affectionately once more before releasing him. “And a telepath too! Oh, you are doing well for yourself, aren’t you, Sans!” She grinned.  
Sans just picked at his skull awkwardly. “Sure am.” He said, not convincingly at all. 

 

“Ayy, finally here!” Undyne cheered as Toriel led Sans and his ‘date’ into the dining room. 

“Oh, hush, Undyne. We’ve only been here f-for five minutes.” Alphys said. She eyed the pair as they made their greetings, giving Sans an odd look as he pulled out his chair and took a seat. 

The skeleton could only smile back. It took him a moment to realise what that look and strange smile meant. He recalled confessing to Alphys during the Gyftmas party, that him and Grillby were faking their ‘relationship’ in order to maintain an alibi. Sans wondered if telling her was truly a wise move, given his current predicament. 

The table was set for the six of them. Toriel had made a lovely display of flowers in a vase at the centre of the table, the yellows and whites complimenting the patterned table cloth. She clearly possessed an eye for detail which Sans did not. A salad bowl was placed on one end of the table. Coloured leaves, yellow and orange vegetables with slices of citrus fruits sat brightly in the bowl. A few snails clung to some of the leaves, clearly enjoying the salad while they still could. At the opposite end sat a jug of a sweet smelling, semi-transparent liquid. 

If Grillby was having trouble fitting in, he did not show it. What Sans had come to learn about the monster’s discomfort in direct conversation or his general dislike of this sort of party atmosphere was being challenged by Grillby’s insistent calm. If he did indeed feel uncomfortable, the feeling was hidden perfectly. As they all got settled, the elemental engaged Alphys in conversation. The lizard herself relaxing as they seemed to be discussing a mutual interest in detective dramas. 

Papyrus however seemed to be the one overwhelmed. He fidgeted, bouncing his knee below the table. Sans pushed a plate of salad his way, topped with a snail, some spicy source and the encouraging words of, “Chilli out bro, everyone’s cool here”.  
It seemed to ease at least some of the tension, Undyne plucked the snail up by the shell, attempting to place it on Papyrus’s head. He laughed, batting her hand away.  
Sans was doing his best not to engage Undyne, who seemed to be giving him the same curtesy, despite the two sitting opposite each other at the table. Sans suspected she was under orders from Alphys to not say anything. 

Toriel rose from her seat to check on the food. Sans ducked out, following her. Not wishing for the elephant in the room to persist any longer, there was something he very much wanted to get off his chest. 

Opening her oven, the smell of warm tomatoes and spices flooded into the room. 

“That smells pretty amazing, Tori.” Sans said, leaning against the kitchen counter. 

“I’ll give it another few minutes, I think.” The Queen replied, checking a clock on the wall. 

They didn’t seem missed by the party, the sound of Papyrus and Undyne joking and loudly laughing filtered in from the other room. Sans was sure he could speak freely in here and not be heard by the others. 

Getting straight to the point, Sans let out a long sigh. “I’m really sorry about last week, not my greatest moment. Sorry ya’ had to see all that.” In the sense of both the fight as well as his soul. 

Toriel regarded him quietly, moving to lean against a separate counter. “And I too am sorry. Both for having to put your position on hold as well as failing to intervene into the situation which transpired.”

“That’s ok, I get it. Probably deserve it, after all.” He said, poking at the patterning of the counter tops. Toriel did not reply, she glanced away, just as awkward as Sans was being. Filling the silence, he continued, “I tried to talk to Undyne about what you mentioned in the letter. Didn’t go so well.”

The Queen shook her head but smiled none the less. “Undyne can be hard to please.” She said quietly. “It took her a long time to accept anything I said. In fact, that may be putting it lightly. We are still learning patience with each other, it’s a work in progress… Sometimes it surprises me that she didn’t just order my return to the Ruins when I came back, after Asgore’s death. Undyne is, after all next in line to the throne after myself. I’ve asked her about it, she assures me that she isn’t too keen on the title of Queen either, so I’m not sure her dislike stems from jealousy.” Toriel mused.

Sans hummed and nodded his acknowledgement. It was strange hearing Toriel talk about that side of her relationship with Undyne. It still astounded him that the Captain hadn’t forced the Queen out, after she re-emerged from hiding; an occurrence which had happened frequently in previous timelines. The skeleton considered what could have caused the change. Was it something the human did or a result of that broken timeline which occurred only one Reset previous? He concluded he may never know. Instead, he chose to answer her. “Yeah, I get that. You two seem to be doing good though, making things work."

“Yes, we’re getting there. These things come to test us, and we adapt to them; something I am slowly doing, now that I’ve returned from the Ruins.” She said with a weak smile.

“Weird transition.” Sans said, glancing up from the floor.

The Queen nodded and hummed in agreement. 

Toriel was always interesting to listen to, even when resetting timelines meant many of their conversations were repeated. Sans always appreciated her honesty.  
He stared down at a pair of comedic salt and pepper shakers, one more question begging to be asked.  
“Did you believe me? Anything I said?” Sans cringed. Guilty that he was taking the focus from her struggle back to his own.

It took a moment for her to answer, each passing second of silence felt like a crushing force. Eventually, the goat monster looked back to him.  
“You refer to the explanation you gave in regards to your soul?” She asked. Sans nodded.  
“As strange as what you said was, it was plain to see you were not lying. Not even the most skilled of deceivers can fool what their own soul says. I spoke to Alphys, who attempted once more to explain what you both told me. While I was-.” She chuckled, “blinded by science, I see she still vouches for you.” 

“You mean you do?” He looked up, hopefully. 

“I do.” She said, her tone reassuring. 

Sans looked back to the counter top, “I suppose that’s the only thing that saved my skin. Or would if I had any.” He laughed before quickly hushing himself. “Thank you.”

An odd look flashed on Toriel’s face, one Sans recognised from when she was contemplating a troublesome question. Sans wondered whether she was contemplating the subject of monsters being judged unfit to live, that had been the topic the last time she had worn that expression.  
“You met the human then.” She said, quickly changing the subject.”

He shuffled his feet, “Yeah, you could say that.”

“From what I can grasp, they became rather problematic.” Toriel said slowly.

Sans shrugged, “I guess.” Which was a pretty big understatement. “I think they were pretty attached to you, in the end.” He said, not having a clue whether that statement was true or not. “But I guess they just didn’t want to stick around down here.” Again, missing out details. The kid knew how to get everyone to the surface and yet still left them down here. For that, Sans resented them. Still, at least the little menace was gone. Right now, anyway.

His words impacted the goat monster, who appeared to not expect that response. “Really? They seemed so… troubled.” 

“Eh, maybe.” He said somewhat dismissively. Not particularly caring whether the child had been ‘troubled’ or not.  
“I don’t suppose you knew their name, did you?” Toriel asked gently. 

Sans nodded, “It was Frisk.” The name sounded odd now, he had only used the name during their brief time on the surface. Upon waking back in the underground, trapped once more, Sans had decided that the kid wasn’t worth calling by their name. A feeling which only grew stronger as the child continued to play with their lives.  
“Frisk.” Toriel said incredibly gently, as if being presented with some scared knowledge. She contemplated this for a while. Eventually, the Queen caught onto Sans magic field, which let slip his ‘dislike’. “Thank you.” She said. 

The skeleton blinked up at her in confusion. “Huh?”

“You kept your promise.” She said, voice strained sounding. “Even though they caused you pain.” 

He shrugged once more. “It’s not a big deal.” He mumbled. “Those with that kind of power tend to do that… I guess it doesn’t matter so much now, since it, well… didn’t happen.” Sans clawed at the edges of his sleeves.

“The human- Frisk, wasn’t the only one who could… Reset?” Toriel asked, concerned, as she attempted to remember the science lesson Alphys had given her.

“Nah, but that’s not a big deal anymore. They’re gone now.” Sans said through his forced smile.

Toriel tilted her head, “You’re sure?” 

Sans met her eye reassuringly, “Yeah, they were no one important. Do we need to check the food?” 

Toriel gasped, rushing back to the oven. The conversation finished, much to Sans delight. 

A cheer brought everyone’s attention to the kitchen. The Queen returned carrying a massive steaming tray. Golden brown and bubbling. Sans followed, dropping back into his seat, ready to forget all about his discussion and eager for lunch.

“I heard we have a few pasta lovers in our presence today. I found a rather nice lasagne recipe on Undernet recently and knew I should save it for something like this.” Toriel happily announced. 

Papyrus gasped at the mention of his favourite carbohydrate. 

Undyne scooped up a large chunk of the five layered dish, each layer containing a rich sauce or different vegetables. “Aww yeah! Tori, this looks awesome!” She said, seeming in a much better mood than the last few times Sans had seen her. As Toriel had said, Undyne seemed to have finally accepted her as the Underground’s ruler. Sans understood the warrior’s difficulty in getting along with the new Queen originally. Toriel had lived in the Ruins away from the other monsters for such a long time that it was no wonder Undyne took offence to her reappearing to reclaim the throne after such a long time. Especially after Asgore’s untimely death.

The food was incredibly good, just the right balance of sauce and vegetables. The group gave their compliments to Toriel who thanked them before jokingly saying how she had forgotten a step or two from the recipe and so assumed the food wouldn’t work out. 

“I once attempted lasagne.” Papyrus said, “I used a meat substitute in there. It exploded in the oven and made such a mess! Didn’t taste all that good either. I prefer to stick to what I’m best at.” 

Sans had clear memory of the failed lasagne. He could perfectly recall the loud pop and splatter from the oven, the overly salty taste and Papyrus’s remark of ‘This is a disaster! The only Pasta Master who could bake this to perfection would be one of a terrible, evil persuasion.’

The Queen looked to Papyrus, who sat opposite her, “That reminds me of when I was a young monster. I loved cooking, but,” Toriel giggled, “I was rather awful. I blew things up quite frequently.”  
At Papyrus’s disbelieving look, she continued. “No matter how many disasters I caused in the kitchen, it didn’t stop me, I enjoyed it. Eventually, that passion paid off. Nothing wrong with a good hobby, especially if it involves food.” She said. “I recommend swapping the meat substitute for slugs. They cook better and maintain their texture after baking for so long.” 

“That’s s-some sweet advice.” Alphys said, poking a thick grey chunk in her food, appearing to suddenly realise that it was most likely some sort of mollusc.

“So, how is your investigation going, Papyrus?” The Queen asked, “Undyne has told me about the progress you’ve been making.” She sounded impressed. 

The skeleton in question blinked, “You have?” 

Sans noticed Undyne cringe, though it seemed Toriel thankfully missed this.

“Well… There is a new suspect I’ve been looking into, after something of a genius revelation some days ago.” Papyrus replied, diverting to his usual confident tone quickly. 

Sans glanced over, hoping the suspect wasn’t him. Grillby curiously followed his friend’s movements. 

Papyrus continued, “You may be familiar with the little white dog commonly seen around the Underground?” 

Toriel smiled fondly, “Oh yes, he visits me here quite often. Lovely little one, very mischievous.”

“I think he did it.” Papyrus stated flatly. Absolutely serious. 

Oh. Undyne’s eyes bored into her dinner plate. 

The Queen’s smile dropped in confusion. Then she snorted with laughter. 

Papyrus’s eyes widened, suddenly not following. 

Alphys shook her head but kept her thoughts to herself.

Toriel burst out laughing. One of the snails in the salad bowl retreated into its shell at the noise. “Good one! I see you have your brother’s humour!” She said, shoulders shaking. 

Undyne laughed too, though it was forced and clearly fake. “He sure does! Nice one, Paps!” She said, clamping a firm hand onto his shoulder. 

Papyrus sat now totally confused, though now chose to just nod and keep quiet. Not expecting the sudden odd display as everyone at the table laughed with Toriel. Grillby tilted his head in confusion. 

They finished their meal, Toriel gathered the plates. Grillby helped, collecting what she struggled to reach. He stood with an armful of bowls, heading to the kitchen with her.

“Dear, you don’t have to.” The goat monster smiled across at Grillby, who insisted on helping. A short back and forth between them resulted in Toriel gratefully accepting his help. They disappeared into the kitchen followed by Papyrus who shuffled after them. 

This left Sans with Alphys and Undyne. He smiled lazily up at them, “You guys been good?” He asked, for no other reason than to break the silence.

“Yeah, super!” Alphys chirped. Overexaggerating with a double thumbs up. So much that Sans immediately doubted her statement. 

Undyne however sat resting her head in her hands. Her eye flashed up to meet him. “What were you doing in Hotland a few hours before Ignis died?” She asked, low and serious. Her attitude flipping from carefree to serious in a heartbeat. 

Sans was momentarily stunned, taken aback by how instantly her demeaner shifted. 

“Oh my,- you _promised!_ ” Alphys hissed. 

Still Undyne’s eye did not leave Sans. He paused before answering, “I went for a walk after I took Alphys home.” He said truthfully. 

“And did you visit ol’ macaroni man?” She asked, just as intensely. 

“No.” Sans answered once more. Taking a sip of his drink as he held her gaze. 

Alphys shifted on her seat, adjusting the neck of the dress she wore. “Come on y-you two.” She said quietly, glancing at the kitchen. The sound of the others chatting happily filtered in through the open doorway. 

So, it appeared Undyne had done her own checking of Hotland’s cameras. She leered sceptically at him. Purposefully, she glanced towards the kitchen door, then back at Sans. “Your bro is sceptical too, ya know?” She said, “’Bout _him._ ” 

Sans eyes flashed towards the kitchen door on impulse. She was talking about his and Grillby’s cover story. “Sheesh, Undyne. You saying you don’t think Grillby’s the one who lights my fire?” He grinned, desperately hoping it was convincing. It was mushy and gross enough to be convincing, in Sans’ eyes.

She gave him a dark look, now hunched over the table. Undyne opened her mouth to answer back. The sound of feet through the doorway made her shut it once more. Papyrus skipped back into the dining room, around to his seat. Like a light switch, the tension around the table dissolved. Undyne leaned back and stretched. Sans’ eyes brightened as he watched Papyrus flop back into his seat. 

Alphys let out a shaky breath. She shot looks of warning at both of the monsters in question.

“You should see the cheesecake the Que- I mean Toriel has made!” He announced excitedly, then quieter, “You know, I always imagined the royal family had monsters to cook and clean and all that for them, you know, like in human movies, or Mettaton’s house.”

“Nah.” Undyne waved him off, “Asgore was the same, always insisted it was his house, his job.”

Papyrus looked excited, “Well if all you need to be royalty is to be nice, enjoy cooking and not be lazy, I think I’d make a good queen.” 

Undyne chuckled, “That’d be king, Pap.”

“Right!” Papyrus exclaimed, “And that would make Sans the queen!” 

“Hmm, not quite sure that’s how it works, bro.” Sans countered, amused by his brother’s innocence. 

Alphys snorted with laughter, looking over her glasses at Sans.

“Don’t.” Sans replied. He stood from the table, shooting the lizard monster finger guns. 

She continued her laughing, eyes not leaving the skeleton in question.

“Stop it!” Sans laughed, heading for the kitchen. “Imma go check out that cheesecake, bree back in a minute.” He said, escaping the room. 

In the kitchen Sans found Grillby conversing with Toriel; only her side of the discussion could be heard. It seemed she had made not one cheesecake but two. One chocolate, which Toriel fussed over and a second one, which Sans guessed was strawberry, if the fruit on top was any indicator. Grillby carefully sliced strawberries, decorating the surface of the cake. 

Sans leaned over Grillby’s arm, far closer than he would approach normally. The elemental stiffened at the unannounced contact. “Wow, I can _camembet_ these taste as good as they look.” Sans said loudly. Then whispering up at Grillby, he said, “Code red, we’ve been found out.” 

Toriel glanced over, “Well let’s hope. I haven’t given this one long enough to cool and the inside is stilton a bit runny.” She countered with another pun. 

‘You mean they are aware of the truth about us?’ Asked Grillby, directly to Sans’ mind. 

The skeleton nodded discreetly to Grillby’s question. “Aww, I’m sure it’ll be great regardless, Tori.” 

Finishing her final preparations, the goat monster tidied away various utensils, “You put too much faith in me, Sans.” She smiled, appreciating his kind words.

The two picked up the finished plates and headed for the door, Sans tailing them. 

‘Do you wish to convince them otherwise?’ Grillby questioned.

The elemental shot a glance back at Sans for a discreet second. Sans took this time to shrug quite dramatically, ending with a final reluctant nod. 

They entered the dining room once more. Taking their seats, the slices of cake were divided up, Sans received a slice of the strawberry one which Grillby carefully put on his plate.  
It was perfectly sweet and creamy, the biscuit base wonderfully buttery. 

Grillby spoke up, seemingly to the whole table. “Sans tells me that the two of you have recently started dating.’ He said, looking between Alphys and Undyne.

Alphys blushed, “Y-yeah, its n-nice.” She stammered.

“Yeah, Alphs’ the best!” Grinning and nudging the lizard monster with her elbow, Undyne smiled, “Can’t believe it was her who asked me out.” She said in an ‘I’m so proud’ sort of voice.

The monster in question shot a look over the table at Sans. “No, nor me.” She said.

‘How long have you been together?’ Grillby asked.

“Only about t-two weeks.” Alphys smiled at the flame monster, “But it feels a lot longer.”

“Dunno why we never tried till now.” Undyne said, though Sans knew from previous experience that Undyne had wanted to take the relationship further for a very long time. She had waited for fear of scaring her friend away, Alphys and her nervous disposition and all. “What ‘bout you guys?”

Sans blinked slowly, “Uh.” He had no idea what to say. 

Thankfully, Grillby had him covered. ‘About two months.’ 

“That long?!” Papyrus gasped from the corner of the table. “If Sans had said something, you could have come over for dinner!” As he said this, the skeleton shot his brother a disappointed look. 

‘My apologies.’ Grillby replied, I tend to work evenings.’

“Then breakfast!” Papyrus insisted. 

Sans laughed, “And when was I last awake in time for breakfast?” 

Toriel giggled at that. 

Undyne eyed the monster opposite her curiously. “What made the two of ya’ start dating?” She said, shovelling half a slice of cheesecake into her mouth.

Ah, a challenge. Though Sans was not too surprised that they were being quizzed about their so- called relationship, Sans was still unsure of how to answer convincingly.  
“I guess we had stuff in common.” Sans shrugged. 

No one said anything. Papyrus looked saddened, clearly expecting something more. Even Grillby glanced down with what Sans supposed was an unamusing look. Had they expected a story? Well damn, in that case, he would give them one.  
“We first met many moons ago. Back before I lived in Snowdin.” He started in a wistful voice. “I attended one of Asgore’s parties, where I first met Grillby. We talked late into the night, a gentle breeze in the air. I discovered that Grillby here owned a bar in Snowdin. We formed a real, uhh, connection. For a while, we had to bid _fire_ well. I kept thinking of our time together. Not long after, I moved down to the town. We only made it ‘official’ a couple of months ago. It’s been going good since, like the time we spent away made no difference.” He said poetically. Sans felt like taking a bow, that was pretty spectacular, if he said so himself. 

Grillby’s flames cracked a pink above his head. Truly, no one can beat a slow burn romance filled with tension and longing… Heh, _slow burn_. 

Papyrus looked sceptical. “Guess I wasn’t at that party.” He said.

“Nope.” Sans said, looking smug. 

However, Alphys, Toriel and especially Undyne just looked uncomfortable. Maybe bringing up Asgore was not the best of plans. 

Toriel gave a little cough, “Who knew you were such a romantic, Sans.” She said, attempting to clear the awkwardness from the air. “I suppose that is something the two of you have in common.” Toriel said gently, mostly to Undyne. 

The warrior’s eye snapped up in a sudden look of defiance. Clearly, she disagreed with this statement. “Well.” Undyne locked eyes with Sans once more. “Where can you recommend for dates? I’m taking _good_ suggestions.” She challenged. 

Without missing a beat, Sans answered, “Highest point of Waterfall, best place to see the stars.” 

“Already done that, first date.” Undyne said, leaning on her elbow. 

Crap, of course, that had been Sans’ suggestion for them after all. “MTT resort.” He stated shortly. 

Undyne hummed in mock thought, “Not if you wanna avoid Mettaton.” 

“There’s a good sushi place in New Home.” He tried. 

“I try to avoid fish. Sure you can guess why.” She grimaced. 

Damn, Sans needed to come up with something more out of the box. “Snowdin forest has some ice caves that look like there made of crystal. Nice n’ sparkly n’ shit.”

Papyrus rose a timid hand, clearly thrown by this strange exchange. “Risky. Those caves are where some of the more dangerous monsters live.” He warned. The skeleton continued in a joking tone, “Not that Sans or Alphys seem to mind encounters with that sort.”

Nobody laughed. Both Alphys and Sans sending looks of warning to Papyrus, who nervously chuckled.

Why was Papyrus bringing this up _now_ of all times?  
“I guess there’s the dump.” Sans shrugged, eager to move the conversation away before Toriel or Grillby became too interested. 

Alphys actually hummed in appreciation of that suggestion. Undyne cringed. Apparently, sifting through mounds of human junk for something interesting was not a shared hobby. 

‘There is a little spa in Hotland, at the back of a house, so you may not have heard of it. Very small, only one group at a time in there, they do different packages. A friendly older couple run it. Though I haven’t been there myself, for obvious reasons, I have none the less heard good things about it.’ Grillby suggested. 

“T-that sounds really nice, actually.” Alphys said, looking interested. “It might be ok if it’s just us and not… other people.” She smiled at Undyne, who hadn’t foreseen the elemental chipping in with a genuinely good suggestion. 

“Heh, yeah, why not.” She agreed. “Kudos.” She nodded to Grillby who nodded back. 

Did that mean he’d won or lost that round? Sans suspected he’s lost, in Undyne’s eyes anyway. He hoped it had reinforced the ‘couple thing’. A few more points in the dating column? Right?

Toriel, seeing an opportunity, attempted to change the subject, “Who would like more cake? There are plenty of slices left.” 

“Oh, super!” Papyrus exclaimed, leaning over to try the strawberry.

“Would you like some more, Grillbz?” Sans asked quickly.

‘Well-.’

“Here you go, chocolate, your favourite!” Sans slapped a piece onto Grillby’s plate. In honesty, he didn’t know what the monster’s favourite flavour of anything was, but who didn’t like chocolate, right?! 

Grillby stared down at the plate, looking momentarily lost. 

Another point in the boyfriend box. 

‘Thank you, Sans.’ He finally said. 

The skeleton patted his date on the forearm, “Of course, any time.” The elemental seemed to go ridged on the side Sans touched him. Not used to or comfortable with direct contact. Sans patted him again, apologetically, withdrawing his hand. Ping! Another boyfriend point! This was what people did, right? 

Papyrus leered closely at Sans in an attempt to decipher his movements. 

Toriel still looked pretty uncomfortable. Eventually, with the help of Alphys, the Queen managed to engage the others in conversation.  
They chatted about television, about Mettaton’s newly opened sports hall within his resort. Then on to what career paths they would have taken, had life been different. 

Alphys talked about how she would have loved to be a writer or animator of short cartoons while Toriel would have enjoyed teaching children.  
Grillby said he wouldn’t change anything. Sending Sans a soft glance, who tried not to blush at how genuine that sounded. Grillby was good at this!

They finished their tea and cake, thanking Toriel for her hospitality. The Queen promised they would do this again soon, they all agreed it had been a lovely change of pace. 

“You’ll all have to come to the skeleton residence next time, for some most excellent spaghetti.” Papyrus offered. 

Undyne whooped her approval of the idea while Grillby gave Sans a more worried look. 

They stood, gathering their coats. Toriel made her way around, hugging each of her visitors, thanking them for a lovely afternoon. After surrounding her arm in flame once more to shake Grillby’s hand again, Toriel stooped down to embrace Sans in a massive hug. 

“It was so nice seeing you properly, Sans. Come by more often, don’t be a stranger.” Toriel grinned, a mischievous look in her eyes, “But I suppose you’ve been spending plenty of time with Grillby, haven’t you?” She playfully bumped his shoulder. 

Sans stuttered, not knowing exactly how to respond to that. Undyne hissed a laugh, Alphys seemed to empathise with Sans’ awkwardness, reflecting it by tightening her coat around her. Papyrus mumbled something and shook his head. 

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Sans coughed. “Grillby is a great friend.” 

The room seemed to suddenly slow to little twitches of movement. Someone coughed. The elemental beside him exhaled smoke into the air. Friend. Oops. 

‘Thank you again for your hospitality, Toriel. Meeting you all has been splendid.’ Grillby, somewhat, broke the silence. He gave a final bow. 

“Yeah thanks guys, it’s been fun.” Sans said quickly, turning for the door. 

The group said more goodbyes. Grillby held a hand out, towards Sans, who stared at it. Did he want something? His keys? Grillby hadn’t given him anything to look after. Huh, who knew. Sans ignored the gesture and headed for the door; unsure why Undyne now seemed to be holding back tears of laughter and his brother had his head in his hands. 

“See you soon!” Toriel waved them off. 

 

The duo took a shortcut back to Snowdin, thankfully cutting out the terribly long walk between areas. Grillby was thankful for not having to trek through Waterfall, avoiding any water, which was nearly impossible. They trudged back through the snow towards the bar, a few small songbirds chirping as they flitted between trees.

‘That was pleasant.’ Grillby stated. 

“Was that sarcasm?” Sans asked. 

‘No.’ The light dancing across the elemental’s glasses, ‘Thank you for the invite.’

Sans shrugged, hands firmly in his pockets, “Could have gone better.”

‘Hmm, I suppose it could have. You’ve never been on a date before, have you?’ 

“Is it that obvious?” Sans grinned up at his friend. He laughed, the ridiculousness of the day catching up with him. The flame monster beside him hummed in humour, tiny sparks of yellow crackling from his head. A rare display of emotion. “Sorry I friend-zoned you at the end there.”

‘No matter.’ Grillby responded. 

Sans clicked his fingers in thought, “Hey, what was the whole fire thing with Toriel?” He mimicked the fire coating the Queen’s arm. “Never seen that kind of thing before.”

‘It is common for elementals to burn those they are unfamiliar with. Unintentionally, of course.’ Grillby explained. ‘She was aware that we can often be an awkward people.’

Two monsters trudging towards them made them both pause.  
It was Dogamy and Dogaressa. 

Sans waved over at them, a gesture which was returned enthusiastically. The four monsters hurried to meet each other.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Dogaressa called as Sans and Grillby approached. 

“Hey guys, I-“ Sans was cut off by a forceful hug, unexpectedly from Dogaressa. It was nearly as crushing as Toriel’s hugs.

“Damn it, Sans.” She sighed, “last time I saw you ya’ was flying through his window.” She said, nodding to Grillby, “Damn lucky, you were.” She said quietly. The dog looked as if she had not slept properly in weeks. She looked and sounded exhausted. 

“Heh, yeah.” Sans replied shortly, not enjoying the reminder of his uselessness in their confrontation with Egg. 

‘How are you?’ Came Grillby’s voice in their minds. He looked curiously at Dogamy, who stood a few paces back from his wife. He carried himself at an awkward angle, as if disorientated. Both dogs wore more casual ware, than their thick fabric Sentry armour. Still Dogamy wore his hood, which had been torn and refashioned to drape around his head fully. Leaving his furred hands the only uncovered part of him. 

The dog chuckled in response, “Been better.” He said. 

It was a sound which made Sans cringe. It didn’t sound like Dogamy. Well, it sort of did, but rather like he’d had something shoved down his throat to impair his speech. 

“Finally left the hospital yesterday, got back to Snowdin last night.” Dogaressa smiled, sniffing the air and sighing. “Hate the Capital, too dark n’ crowded. Smells like shit.” 

So, this was indeed the first time the pair had been back since the incident. To Sans, it felt like a while ago now. Snow had fallen on the battlefield, hiding the singed mud and rocky hardened lava which now lay uncleared beneath the white blanket. 

Dogaressa finally let Sans go from the embrace, standing back. “You two look fancy, nice suit, Grillbz.” She drowsily grinned. Her husband hummed in agreement.  
‘We had lunch.’ Grillby confirmed. 

Dogaressa tilted her head with an, “Aww!” Sans was sure she would have pinched his cheek, if that had been possible, judging from the way the dog looked between them. 

Grillby stood quite still, viewing the scene. ‘Are you alright, though?’ He asked. 

“Yeah, Ressa, we’ve missed you guys.” Sans chipped in.

She shifted in the snow, her tail swishing. Looking back, Dogamy took a step forward. 

“We should be now.” He said as reassuringly as possible in his distorted voice. They watched as he gathered the lip of the fabric draped over his head and pulled it back.

Sans couldn’t help but instantly flinch at the sight. Dogamy’s upper jaw was almost totally gone. Sewn up and raw with his nose missing. The lower jaw was slightly more intact though it had also been partially lost, along with most of his teeth. No wonder the monster had great trouble talking, Sans thought the fact he was able to speak at all was a miracle. Grillby did not react other than a tiny nod. Not even his magic field betrayed a reaction. 

Dogamy folded the hood back over his head. “I was lucky.” He said. 

Sans wondered on what level this was true. He didn’t look lucky. 

Dogaressa nodded, “They tried to fix the bone but it had totally shattered. Beyond repair.” She itched at her ear, the ordeal still fresh and painful. She motioned around her nose, “It all started to dust, it was… bad. But the healers were amazing, fixed him up good and proper.” She shot her husband a grin, which he chuckled at. 

“Wish Doggo could have seen this.” Dogamy mused, “He’d have freaked out so bad.” He said with what must have been a laugh, though it sounded strangely hollow.  
He moved forwards suddenly, towards Grillby. The movement jarring as the four stood rooted to in their places. Dogamy patted the elemental firmly on the arm and pulled him into a hug which was neither too close to be uncomfortable nor too dismissive. “Thank you.”

Sans watched as, with a whine, Dogaressa launched into Grillby. Throwing herself around the monster in a hug which looked like it might crush him. The fire monster managed to not stumble back from the impact. He stood a head taller than the dogs. Gently, he placed his flickering hands onto both of their shoulders, offering comfort. 

“Were you hurt?” Dogaressa sniffed, looking like she may tear up.

‘I’m fine.’ Grillby reassured, though the wrist of his injured arm was still visible under the edges of his suit. The flames now only fractionally dimmer than normal.  
Dogaressa nodded sniffed, looking tearful. “Oh, you’ll set me off again, you will.” She mumbled, “If you hadn’t been there, I’d have lost my favourite mutt here.” She said, voice wavering but determinedly clear. “And Lesser, and Bones, and this runt here.” She grinned at Sans.

The skeleton saluted her from where he watched, shuffling his feet. “It’s true, we owe you one, Grillbz.” He felt quite ashamed that he had not thanked his friend before now. If Grillby hadn’t stepped in, they would have likely been dealing with a much larger body count.

When they broke apart, the Dogi family agreed to follow Grillby back to his home for tea. Sans assured them he had other business to attend to. He thanked Grillby once more for accompanying him to lunch and turned in the direction of his house. 

Still with some hours before Papyrus would be back, Sans had some time to kill. An afternoon spent on the sofa catching up on crappy daytime television sounded like a dream. 

Deciding that walking was a drag, the skeleton disappeared from sight with a crackle of magic. 

 

A/n-  
A theory about food production in the underground.  
Due to limited space, resources and environmental conditions, I don't think the underground could sustain much meat production. Possibly on a very small scale I doubt it being enough to sustain the majority of the population. We already see in the game that there are alternatives, like hotdogs made from 'water sausages'. (are there any other examples? Lol, I don't remember.)  
You could argue the same for crop production and I don't have much to say about that, though I imagine its easier to maintain the plants which are already growing and create a sustainable supply of them, from a pre-existing environment.  
On top of this, I think many carnivorous monsters would have needed to adapt to new diets, if that's even a relevant point. 

I think a key answer to 'The Meat Issue' is insects. You don't need much space at all to produce large amounts of insects, it is also very cheap and usually fast. Undertale has a snail farm in waterfall, right? I'm not making that up, right? And Toriel talks about cooking with snails.  
Its a shame many cultures find the idea of eating bugs strange. They are very sustainable, highly nutritious and healthy. They could be a key idea in busting world hunger and creating a more sustainable environment. Unfortunately, I doubt that, over here in the UK at least, this mentality will change. You know, cuz bugs are 'eww', or whatever. 

In fact, while we're talking sustainability- The underground runs off a geothermal powerplant, cooled by the ice which forms naturally down the river. Despite how they have an apparent overpopulation problem, there are still large untouched natural spaces like waterfall or snowdin forest. Meat production is likely kept to a minimum and they've sorted good alternate food sources, since we never hear about a shortage of food despite this overpopulation and there being enough food places throughout the underground.  
IS MONSTER SOCIETY BASED ON BEING SUPER PLANET FRIENDLY AND CONSIOUS OF THE NATURE THEY SHARE THEIR SPACE WITH?!?! Was this an intentional message? 

In summary: It is now my headcanon that, since he designed the core, Gaster was some crazy environmentalist hipster vegan. Probably vapes too. And Undertale is actually Ferngully.

Thank you as always for reading, especially if you stayed for this end bit. I hadn't seen anyone talk about this before and any excuse to nerd out about bugs, I will take. ;)


	21. Forces of nature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Come say hi on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/mad_zazzy/ I make 'art' and have a cute duck friend.   
> Or, come say hi on the 'official' Tumblr page!! https://madzazzy.tumblr.com/

Some days following the lunch date with Toriel, Sans found himself back in the lab, helping Alphys. If the Queen planned on staffing the facility to its old capacity, they had some serious tidying to do. The lower levels of the lab were for the most part, dusty and untidy. Covered in old clutter and in dire need of a new coat of paint.

It was far gloomier than Sans remembered it being, the hallways dark and grey. They instilled a strange feeling within the skeleton. Not quite fear. A disconcerting feeling which made him jumpy. He had no reason for the feeling, not that he could remember. Instead, Sans put it down to those strange warped amalgamates down on the lab’s lowest levels. They must have been putting him on edge. 

Alphys hummed to herself as she worked. The sound empty and nonsensical. The long electric light above them flickered. It buzzed every few seconds, an irritating sound. This time, they didn’t have the smoother sound of the old portable music player to pad out the silence. The Scientist had made a serious effort to clean out the old labs. Many rooms now looked as if they might have potential to house actual staff now.  
There was still much work to be done. 

Alphys admitted to not venturing down this particular corridor in possibly years. It contained a row of sinks on one side of the wall and a large row of cabinets clung to the opposite wall. It smelt faintly of spilled chemicals. The sinks were dirty, some much worse than others. A colony of strangely mutated slugs had moved into one basin, all slowly moving to hide in the plughole when the light was switched on. The pair of monsters moved down the row in mostly silence. A garbage sack between them, which filled quickly. The amount of unusable clutter shoved under the basins was astounding. 

An old chewed dog toy, a pamphlet for defensive magic training, a sealed packet of plant seeds and a magic gemstone which burned on direct contact, were only a selection of odd things Sans found hidden away. 

The pair chatted on and off. Not really conversation, but just statements with stilted replies. Alphys was quieter than usual, Sans noticed that immediately. The Scientist usually tried to fill the air with as much meaningless chatter as possible to break up the ‘awkward silences’. Today, however, she seemed lost in her thoughts.

Getting gradually more annoyed by the buzzing of the unused light, Sans attempted to start up some form of chatter to combat in encroaching headache. Sans joked about the odd items he was finding hidden in the clutter, coming up with humorous scenarios which they may have been used in. It was difficult to get Alphys to join the discussion, she seemed oddly more focused today. Eventually, she began chipping into the ideas too. She mentioned some of rather strange items she had uncovered, amusing little things which Alphys had thrown into a box. It sounded as if she had been busy down here in the last few weeks. 

“I f-found some old financial reports, from b-back when we were apprentices.” Alphys said, grinning nervously, “Whoever was in charge b-before me either s-sucked at math or was probably committing tax fraud.” 

Sans chucked back, “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me that much, if compared to what I remember of this place.” 

“Yeah I g-guess. Ignis would have never let that kinda thing pass if h-he was Royal Scientist.” She sighed. 

“Probably not.” Sans agreed. “He liked teaching too much though, didn’t he? I heard Asgore asked him more than once if he’d take the job.”

Alphys leaned over to rinse the filthy cleaning cloth she held, “H-he was. I certainly wasn’t first on their list when I was asked. Bunch o-of people turned it down. I kinda w-wish it had been Ignis who got the job.” She sighed. 

While Sans couldn’t deny that the old salamander would have kept this place in order better than Alphys had, he couldn’t imagine the odd monster working in the labs full time. It was a shame old man macaroni was gone. He was such a treasure trove of knowledge. Such a strange and interesting monster. “Nah, I’d much rather chill out here with you.” Sans admitted. 

Alphys smiled at that. She exhaled a shaky breath, her hands twitching.  
Sans observed her closely, the monster had been behaving oddly all afternoon. 

As he leaned back down to search the darkest corners of the cupboard for litter, a question fell into Sans’ head. One which begged to be asked, despite its implications. “Alph, why did you tell Papyrus about having to fight those monsters in Waterfall?”

He hated how she stilled, shakily turning to face him as if Sans had just puled a weapon on her. Alphys opened and closed her mouth several times, slowly processing the question and loading her response.  
“I, w-w-well. You know when y-you get c-carried away and things s-slip out?” She nervously stuttered. 

Sans blinked slowly, showing his disproval of her lack of explanation. “No, I don’t.” He stood back up, giving her his full attention. 

She stared at the floor, unable to find a better excuse. Tail curling around her legs, shrinking in on herself.

The skeleton continued, “And that thing about me wanting to kill Ignis and steal his research to become the ‘next anomaly’. Whose idea was that?” He didn’t hide the hurt from his voice. “That’s so messed up.” 

Again, Alphys opened her mouth, only a choked sound exiting. She once more wrung her hands, staring back down at the tiled floor. 

“And Papyrus mentioned _Resets!_ ” He pressed, exasperated, though relieved at finally airing his complaints. “He’s not supposed to know about all that. You know that, right? I think he only knows the word and nothing else, so it’s ok, but…” Sans trailed off, the anger not in him. “As long as that’s all he knows. You didn’t tell him anything else did you?” The skeleton asked, tiredness seeping quickly back into him like a sponge, as it seemed to whenever he expelled even a second of effort into anything.

The lizard monster shook her head and answered quickly. “N-no.” It was a blatant lie. Had she forgotten Sans could read her soul? The yellow lifeforce quivered in her chest, the deep crack in it looking worse than ever. 

At the reminder that Alphys’ soul sat so fragile and on the verge of breaking, Sans calmed himself, his rant meant very little anyway, what was done was done. “You sure?” He questioned.

Alphys nodded, looking like she might pass out. 

“Didn’t tell him I’m the Judge, did you?” Sans asked, voice less aggressive.

“N-n-no!” Alphys squeaked again.

This time her words were truthful. Sans nodded. He turned away, busying himself with his job once more. “Ok, thanks. I’m sorry.” 

His irritation turned to regret as Alphys continued to just stand, watching him as she quivered awkwardly. “I’m s-sorry.” She apologised in a pleading voice.  
“S-ok, long as he doesn’t know about the important stuff, right?” Sans said with a sigh, hoping it would calm her. “I’m not mad, I just… The less Papyrus knows, the better.” 

“Sorry.” Alphys whispered. The monster seemed even more crushed than she might have been normally. She continued to stand still, almost unresponsive.

Sans gave her a patient smile, hoping to sooth the worrisome look his friend gave him. “That’s ok, I forgive you. Sorry for getting upset like that.” 

Finally, after some long moments, she regained her movement. The dripping cloth returned to wiping the surfaces once more, a puddle of water gathered at Alphys’ feet. 

Though he regretted upsetting her, his words had needed to be aired. The questions and accusations had kept him awake enough nights now. No matter what happened, Sans would always fight his friend’s corner, he hoped she might do the same for him.  
Sans let his magic fill the space around them, expressing his apology, peace and his gratitude for her friendship.

Slowly, it seemed to work. The pair returned to their work in silence where Alphys eventually recovered.

A decent amount of time passed in quiet. As the clock ticked on, Sans became bored and irritated once more with the flickering lighting. A need to break the silence pulled him back into conversation. “How’s everything going with Undyne?” 

Alphys stretched her back and rolled her shoulders before moving back into the cupboard with a fresh cloth. “D-don’t worry about Undyne. I know she’s g-got some issues w-with you right now, but I’m sure she’ll get over it. Ya know what she’s like, she always does.” 

“Oh, I wasn’t thinkin’ that. I just meant between the two of you.” Sans said, not caring in the slightest what the Captain thought of him.

The light glinted across Alphys’ glasses as she glanced in his direction. “Eh, r-right. Sure. We’re doing really good, I’m happy you ‘helped’ make it happen now. It just feels kinda… you know.” 

“Um, no, I don’t?” Sans replied to her rather strange statement, his head tilting in confusion. 

It took her a moment to continue, tail swishing anxiously. “Do you ever get that feeling, when s-something happens to you. You feel like it’ll be the big change you need in your life. That, now t-that this has happened, everything will be different? Better? You think it’s the start of a brighter future. But, you soon realise that’s n-not the case.” 

Sans put down his rubbish bag and looked at her. “Kinda. Why, what’s up?”

“When I finally started dating Undyne, I thought it w-would be a turning point. It’s what I’ve wanted most for as long as I can remember, I imagined my problems would get smaller or disappear altogether when I finally got that wish...” She picked the dirt from around one of her claws, “But in reality, nothing is d-different, except I’ve got an awesome girlfriend.”

“Damn. That’s deep.” Sans mumbled. He gathered a bottle of cleaning spray, feeling instantly less motivated. The emotion carried through Alphys’ magic shared with his own. It carried a persistent gloom, like thick fog. He glanced back at the crack in her soul, seeing it reminded his of a countdown clock, his friend’s life at stake. Sans had desperately hoped that fulfilling Alphys’ wish of being with Undyne would have given her the hope and love she needed. While the Scientist was defiantly faring much better than in many timelines, the skeleton still feared the worst. 

Silence passed between them once more. The overwhelming feeling of Alphys’ hopelessness filled the space around them. Sans tried one more time. “Are you ok, Alph?” he asked, voice smaller than intended. 

The monster in question jumped slightly, “O-oh, yeah. I’m f-fine.” She said sheepishly, withdrawing her magic field tightly around herself. 

“Ya sure?” Sans pushed. 

For the third time that morning, she repeated the act of opening and closing her mouth. It reminded Sans somewhat of a fish. Alphys spoke slowly and barely above a whisper. “Something h-happened the other day, w-when I was out running w-with Papyrus… We saw something.” 

Sans frowned, “Something?” He questioned back. 

Alphys looked fearful. “We f-found something in the lower levels of Waterfall. A monster from Snowdin and… something else. It… I don’t know. It was…” She searched the air for an appropriate word but seemed to come up with none aptly befitting her explanation.

“Like another monster? A human?” Sans prompted. He searched his memory but couldn’t find anything Papyrus had said about any strange occurrences.  
The Scientist moved to shake her head but stopped, “Maybe. I d-don’t know. I don’t think so. Dunno what else it c-could have been.” He hands fidgeted, Alphys looked more nervous than Sans had seen in a while. The feeling she gave off was distinctly different to how she’d frozen and stuttered about when Sans had spoken angrily earlier. The monster acted as disturbed as when they were cornered in the depths of Waterfall by those horrific fungus monsters. Her fear directed at something unknown and gathering in the darkness.  
She beckoned him over, pulling her phone from her pocket.

Sans was certainly curious. “You got a photo?” 

“Video.” Alphys corrected.

The recording was choppy, the audio not great. Alphys’ hands had clearly been shaking as she recorded. Papyrus’s red scarf blew, occasionally entering the frame. A strange mass dripped down the rock, a familiar face stood beside it. “That’s Shrubberthree. They moved in a while ago, near me.” Sans pointed out. 

He watched the plant monster’s strange movements. Tried to gather what information he could from the choppy audio. At points, Alphys and Papyrus reacted to the black substance with terror. In one final fearful shriek, Alphys jumped back, ending the recording. 

It left Sans feeling lost. The idea that something, clearly terrifying had happened to two of his closest worried him greatly. Papyrus hadn’t seemed upset at all since this was recorded. Unless Sans had blacked out that memory too. Though, where was the threat? Shrubberthree didn’t attack, or even appear to be aggressive. They had moved oddly, eyes more hollow than usual. The mass on screen hadn’t done anything, from the recording, it looked like a weird oil spillage down the rockface.  
“What happened after?” Sans asked. 

“No idea.” Alphys whispered. “I d-don’t remember any of this.”

Now that took Sans by surprise. “So, if I asked you about any specifics, you wouldn’t know the answer?” 

“No.” She sighed. “D-did Pap say anything about this?”

It was Sans’ turn to shake his head. 

“There was something else _there._ ” Alphys said, pointing at the dark mass on the screen. “I don’t know what b-but I just know it.” 

“Afraid I can’t help ya’ there.” Sans said, totally stumped by this puzzle. 

She slid the device back into her lab coat pocket. The cute keychains attached to it jingled as they fell out of view. “I h-have a theory.” Alphys said. “Remember I said I’d been recording this weird phenomenon, loose thoughts?” 

“Vaguely. That thing about memory blocking?” Sans wondered, trying to catch up. 

“Yeah, s-sort of.” Alphys nodded. She looked serious, like she was awaiting attack. “It’s happening m-more and more, especially in the labs. Actually, I’ve been able to hold onto some of those escaping thoughts, permanently I think.” 

“Wait, seriously?” The skeleton had shamefully not given Alphys’ research in this subject any more consideration after the last time they spoke of the theory. “You think there’s something causing it to increase?”

“Originally, yes. Now though, I think its m-me training my brain to identify the patterns.” She theorised. “I’d like to speak to t-that Shrub… person. B-but, well. I d-don’t really wanna, y-you know, s-speak to them.” 

“You figure anything from those brain waves of yours, then?” Sans asked, leaning on the now much cleaner edge of a basin. 

“I think…” She started, hands braced together, “There was some sort of experiment carried out here, o-on a monster who can use memory magic. Their magic m-must have exploded out and still lingers mostly in the lab and Hotlands. If I c-could recreate that on a smaller scale, then we might figure it out.” 

Was that plausible? The theory could work, the effects of powerful magic could indeed linger for some time. It had truly been years since the lab was mostly closed down, could a memory effect still occur so frequently as Alphys said, after such a long time? The concept was interesting, he had to admit.  
Sans pointed to the phone in his friend’s coat. “And what does that have to do with it?” He asked, intrigued. 

“I don’t r-really know. I’m sure they’re connected, the feeling I get is the same.” Alphys squeaked. “L-like I should remember- I should know exactly what’s going on. But I start feeling sick w-whenever I think about it.”

Sans grinned, “Sounds like someone has a real sixth sense for this kind of stuff now.” 

She nodded, a tiny smile pulling the corner of her mouth. The monster looked slightly calmer, having shared her thoughts. Though she still looked on edge, her hands had at least stopped shaking. “It’s given me s-some ideas. I finally got F-Flowey’s dust out of its box to analyse. Um, there are s-still traces of Determination in every bit of dust. I c-can’t believe he’s dead, like, it s-seems he should still be able to come back.” 

Sans tilted his head. Though this was nothing to really be surprised about, granted what he knew of the horrid flower, it still filled him with an uneasiness. A feeling Alphys mirrored. “So did that power run out? I always thought it was overridden by the human, somehow. Wasn’t like I was ever in a position to test any ideas, or hand out questionnaires to either of them.” He joked. 

Alphys looked away, at the shadows which flickered on the wall, thanks to the buzzing light. “There are t-things I’d like to try… But, w-well…” She trailed off in a guilty voice. 

Sans scrutinised her, “You mean try things with Determination?” He asked, voice low.

The Scientist stared at the wall before eventually nodding. 

“Alph, don’t. We both know absolutely nothing good comes of it. I’ve said it before now, you’d be best to just find a way to destroy the stuff. The less Determination in the world, the better.” He said pleadingly. 

The lizard’s breath shuddered, “I know, b-but… There’s something t-there, if we could modify it, find a loophole to stop it from killing monsters, we-.” 

“There is no ‘we’ on this one, Alph.” Sans said firmly. “There’s no way to stop it from killing people, it always happens in some form. Something that powerful shouldn’t exist.” He pressured. 

Shaking, a hand came up to her snout. Alphys sniffed, tearing up. 

Sans pressed a palm against his skull, “Alph, don’t cry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Sans said, a mix of apologetic and exasperated. 

Alphys wiped her eyes, glasses sliding down her nose. “S-sorry.” She whimpered. 

Sans gently placed a hand on her shoulder, forgetting how emotionally fragile she could be at times. “Don’t say that, c’mon now.” 

She wiped her eyes again quickly and straightened her uniform. 

“Alph, please promise me you won’t touch that stuff.” He said quietly, a sick feeling in his chest. “Please.”

“O-only if you tell me everything y-you can about the Resets- all of them.” The hardness of her words threw Sans off. He wasn’t expecting such a tough response. “I keep asking you, b-but it seems to be information I have to bargain for.” 

Sans was still as he weighed her words. Coming to the easiest decision of his life, Sans held out a hand, “Deal.” 

They shook. The less that vile substance was used, the better. For both monsters, if not for Determination, Sans knew they would both living happier lives. “I’ll have a report with you soon as I can.” He assured.

Alphys nodded. “Thank you.” She said in the same hard tone. 

They stood in silence for a long moment. Alphys eventually stooped down to collect a cleaning sponge, though her motivation seemed to have disappeared.  
“One more thing.” The skeleton said quietly, “Everything we’ve talked about today, tell Undyne. Please, it’s for the best. Everything about the Determination experiments, it’ll be better, trust me, only good things happen through it-.

“Sans.” She stopped him. Alphys shook her head.

Taking the message, the skeleton picked up his bag of garbage and resumed with filling it. Silently hoping that she would trust him. 

Only minutes later, a chime rang out through Alphys’ phone. The doorbell. 

Darkness cloaked the old corridor once more as the duo packed up their cleaning and headed upstairs to greet Alphys’ guest. A mousy monster in a long woollen scarf. The magic specialist who had appeared at each of the crime scenes. Papyrus had mentioned her a few times. 

Alphys reluctantly greeted the newcomer and welcomed her into the living space. The mouse shoved an important looking document into the lizard’s face. 

“Signed by the Queen herself.” The small monster announced. 

Alphys grimaced, from what Sans could gather, the mouse had been trying to gain entry into the lab for some time. The Royal Scientist finding excuses to avoid each visit. 

With an offer of tea, Scarfed Mouse was welcomed in. “Thanks for your help, Sans, take the rest of the day off.” She said with a tired smile. 

Sans grinned, saluting her, “As you wish.” They both laughed and bid each other farewell, Alphys leading her intruder to help set up equipment. 

The skeleton closed the door behind him and took a shortcut back home. 

 

The second Sans stepped up to his front door, a shout rang out from the garage. How curious, Papyrus wasn’t often in there. Trudging closer, Sans peered around the door. “Um, bro, what the heck are you doing?” 

Papyrus, had been stood with his notebook. He leaned over their slightly dysfunctional cage which separated one half of the room. No longer used for capturing humans, a tiny white dog sat behind the bars. The animal could walk out any time it wanted, to get through the wooden stumps, it didn’t even need to squeeze. The fluffy thing peered up with bright eyes. Tail wagging and tongue hanging out as it panted in excitement. 

With a whip of his scarf, Papyrus turned. “Ah, Inspector Sans. Better late than never! Our number one suspect has been contained skilfully, by myself.” Before he muttered under his breath, “And a few of the local children who helped me chase the critter.” 

“You got the kids to chase um’?” Sans grinned. “We have dog biscuits in the cupboard, why didn’t you just use those?” 

Papyrus looked about for a second before swooping back down to whisper, “Don’t bring up my shortcomings here, we are meant to be intimidating the beast!” 

“Why?” Sans frowned.

“Shh! Interrogation, of course. I need you to be my tough subordinate.” The tall skeleton said, not quietly at all. 

Sans shrugged, shoving his hands into his hoody pockets, “Sure bro, whatever you need. I’ll be bad cop.” 

“Excellent.” Papyrus grinned. He turned sharply back to the adorable ball of fluff. Clearing his non-existent throat, he began, “So, were you or were you not at Ms Truffle’s house in the night of her murder?” 

Being given attention, the little dog excitedly yipped. 

Papyrus gasped. “Was that a confession?” 

“Dunno, I’d be careful though, he looks barking mad.” Sans said, leaning against the wall. 

“And were you at Professor Ignis’s house on the night he died?” The skeleton pried further. 

This time, the dog did not answer, it just wagged its stubby tail. 

Papyrus hummed over this, interested. “Not willing to answer that one, ey?” He turned to Sans, “Come on, you don’t look very ‘bad’ over there. Stand up straight, get your hands out of your pockets and we might stand a better chance of getting him to talk.” 

“I thought this was working.” Sans said, moving to stand beside his brother but not removing his hands. 

Papyrus crouched down to the dog’s level, “Now if you’re a good boy, and answer properly, we’ll let you go. Otherwise my friend here will have something to say about that.” He warned, jabbing a finger through the bars. The dog happily nuzzled it, making the skeleton quickly retract his hand. 

“So, what were you doing at Ms Truffle’s house? Hmm?”

“Clearly not just looking for snacks.” Sans said in a mock serious tone. 

The dog looked between his captors, licking his nose at the mention of treats. 

“Still nothing. I see.” Papyrus narrowed his eyes.

“What if that first bark meant no.” Sans offered. 

His brother nodded, “That is possible. Tell me doggy, does a woof mean yes or no?” 

The dog barked, wagging his tail even more. 

“See, means no.” Sans said. 

Papyrus shook his head, “No, silly bones, it’s obviously yes.” 

The dog yipped once more.

“See, he’s agreeing with me!” Papyrus said.

“Unless that was him disagreeing.” Sans grinned. 

Exasperated, Papyrus sighed, he aggressively flipped the page of his notebook for another question. “Before he died, Egg said a few strange things. I don’t suppose you know anything about an eternity of repeating death or the ‘non-monster’?” He asked.

“That really what he said?” Sans wondered, “Eh, guy was probably crazy.” He shrugged, not wanting to think about Egg or his words. 

The dog did nothing new. Papyrus stood, hands on his hips. “I didn’t think I could interview anyone less receptive than Egg.” He growled. “I was wrong.” 

Stepping forward, Sans took his brother’s place knelt in front of the makeshift cage. “Hey buddy. So, you like treats?” 

The dog stood, wagging his short tail enough that the whole of his back end wobbled. 

“Though so.” Sans removed a packet of ketchup from his pocket, the dog’s eyes bugged out at the sight of it. “These are hard for dogs like you to get their paws on. If I let you have it, will ya answer my bro’s questions?” He asked calmly. 

Behind him, Papyrus face palmed. “Sans, what the heck are you doing?”

“Bribery.” He stated in reply. “I’m more bad influence cop than bad person cop.”

The dog stared, straight into Sans’ eyes. It seemed to be hesitating. 

“Oh, that deal not sweet enough for ya? How about booze? I just so happen to be… dating a certain local bartender. I’m sure I could supply you with something of interest.” Sans said, holding the packet just beyond the dog’s reach.

“Honestly, Sans.” Papyrus sighed, bewildered.

“No, hang on, I think we’re getting somewhere.” He stared, eyes locked with the dog. An understanding in the animal’s gaze. Slowly, Sans teared the plastic open, not looking away from the dog. “We have a deal?” 

The dog yipped, excitedly licking up the ketchup as it was presented to him. The dog shook his head almost every time it took a lick of the sauce. Sans was unsure whether it tasted good to the canine. They ate it regardless. 

Papyrus made a noise of disgust, “Well, you can finally say you’ve found a kindred spirit. A gross, gross spirit.” 

“What, you don’t want one?” Sans offered holding up a packet to Papyrus, who just cringed. 

A cough, quite humanlike in nature jerked their heads back to the dog. It sat, looking up at them both. Its eyes were different, they held an intelligence which had not been there previously. Then, in a deep voice, it _spoke._ “I accept your trade of information for consumables. Do I have your word that you shall follow through with this deal, skeletal one?” It said in what would be the most unfitting voice imaginable. 

Both brothers' jaws hung open.

Sans looked down at the animal with blank eyes, “What the fuck?”

“Do not delay, I require confirmation.” It demanded.

Kicking himself into gear with a strange whining sound, Sans attempted to not jumble his words. “Y-yeah sure. Sounds good- pawsome, you might say! Haha! No worries!” He gave a weak double thumbs up. 

The tiny, once adorable dog looked sceptical. “I require a bottle of your finest and strongest spirit, as does my taste require. Hopefully something more tasteful than that.” The dog’s eyes flicked down to the empty sauce packet. A flick of ketchup still sat across the dog’s nose.

“Hm, yeah. Sure.” Sans replied quietly. 

The fluffy creature turned its gaze up to Papyrus who stared down almost lifelessly in how statue still he stood. “You may ask a question.” 

The skeleton in question blinked very slowly. “M-Ms Truffle?” He said quickly.

“You ask in regards to the eve of her death? Why, I saw two figures near her house.” He answered.

“Two figures?” Papyrus said in surprise. 

“Indeed. Though only one is your killer. I can tell you no more on the subject, for I could not see.” The dog explained. “As for the science man who died, I do not know.” 

Papyrus scribbled a note onto his paper, nodding. It seemed this new information had shaken him out of his unalive state. “Well that is extremely helpful. My previous question still stands about what that dastardly Egg said.” 

“Dastardly?” Came the animal’s reply. He tilted his head. “I suppose that is a good measure for one who takes the lives of others. Though be mindful of your sour words, you may find the ones close to the one you victimise can empathise with your pain of loss… Sorry what was the question?” 

Papyrus looked puzzled. “The eternity of death thing.” He prompted. 

“Ah, of course. The dog said, he turned to stare straight at Sans. “I dare say we may be aware of the meaning of those words.” 

It was like he was suddenly breathless. Sans stared back at the tiny dog. Did this random animal understand the Resets?! Was it just him or was it just something animals could do? Honestly, Sans had never stopped to ask any squirrels while walking through the forest. Even if an animal could, he couldn’t imagine they would hold much concept of the phenomenon or even conceive that it was happening. There was a pause, as if Sans was meant to speak. He opened his mouth unable to think of words when luckily, the dog continued. 

“As for the ‘non-monster’, well. That may be in reference to many things, dogs, squirrels, pigeons. Or are we thinking bigger? A human maybe? Be careful who you talk to about humans and remember that if there is power to be had, it may fall into the wrong hands... Or were you maybe thinking of something more than a monster? There are many secrets in this world, hidden things. Some things are best left forgotten; though it seems some may, at times, be forced to remember, whether aware or not” His tail shifted where it sat on the floor. 

“Well that’s real cryptic.” Sans groaned, scratching at his skull. 

Papyrus didn’t seem capable of processing such information. He began to make a note, stopped, and gave up. “Ok, another thing-.”

The dog stood, interrupting the skeleton. “And now I am bored. I wish to play in the snow.” He looked back at Sans, “Judge, take me outside. We shall find a stick for fetch, then you will take me to your bar and precure for me what we agreed in our trade.”

Sans coughed. What the hell?! 

The dog walked through the wide cage bars with ease. Papyrus held a hand up as if to stop him. “Erm, excuse me, I haven’t finished questioning you. And his name is Sans, not-.”

Only glancing at Papyrus, the ball of fluff continued walking to the door. “I am bored. Judge, escort me out.” 

Sans stepped forward, head down as if trying not to be associated with the name he was being called. “Think I betta let um’ out.”

This time Papyrus made no attempt to stop them. “Thank you for your time, dog friend.” He smiled, despite looking quite tired after this ordeal. “By the way, do you have a name you prefer, the monsters call you different things?”

“You, skeleton, are unworthy of that knowledge.” The animal said in his dry deep voice. Then, as if by magic, their face became cuter. Happier and more like a regular dog once again. His tail wagged like an excited puppy, padding around the edge of the door eager to be let back outside. 

Sans looked up from the dog circling his feet. He gave a silent shrug to Papyrus who just looked back, bewildered. The door to the garage was pushed open and the dog flew out, yapping and running circles in the snow.

“Welp, guess I’ll go fetch some sticks. Catch you later, bro.” He saluted to Papyrus before being beckoned to the treeline near their home by possibly one of the stranger residents of the Underground.


	22. Creepypasta

After the incident with the strange dog, Papyrus decided he very much needed to take his mind away from the murder case. The dog’s cryptic explanations and maybe warnings had left him feeling tired- which would certainly not do, the afternoon had only just begun! 

Glancing out the window, Sans could be seen not too far from their house. The dog had him running around far more than Papyrus had seen him move in a long time. Sans looked tired but seemed to be doing his best to entertain the dog. Papyrus smiled warmly at the sight. 

His brother had been acting rather strangely lately. Somehow, he was less active than usual, if possible. Papyrus figured that the change was brought on by Undyne being less than nice recently. That and the loss of their Sentry friends. 

The incident in Snowdin had of course, shaken them both up. Though he put his bravest face on, Papyrus could still barely go a day without dwelling on the disaster in some capacity.  
The image of Greater Dog’s armour falling to the ground in a crumpled heap. The smell of sulphur after Grillby had finished off their foe. The crushing weight of Egg’s blue attack and the void-like silence which came with it. Feeling the power of an explosion, its shockwave rippling through his bones, looking up to find Doggo had been overtaken by it…

Tidying! That would clear his head! 

Their kitchen was almost spotless, save for a few crumbs left from Sans making a sandwich earlier. The living room was the most stain-free it had been for some time. It looked good, except for the one sock Sans refused to pick up. Actually, his brother had left half of his aforementioned sandwich sat on the edge of the sofa, with no plate beneath it. How foul! 

Yes, he had been doing a lot of cleaning the last few weeks, to stop his mind from wondering. Of all the obvious coping mechanisms, Papyrus figured it was at least healthy and productive. He had even waxed and polished every appliance in the kitchen, yesterday!

With those small odd jobs out of the way, there remained only one room Papyrus had yet to clean.  
Sans’ room. What a monumental task it would be. 

While he greatly respected his brother’s privacy, this had been too long coming. Warning after warning of, “The hallway is starting to smell, if you don’t clear out whatever is rotting in there, I’ll just have to come in and clean it myself!” Which was usually met with a reply of something like: “Aww, harsh bro. You know I’m a skeleton, right, nothing left to rot when you’re just bone!” 

Come to think about it, maybe the threats to clean Sans’ room were the very reason he hadn’t done anything himself. Just wait long enough and someone would take care of the problem for him. Sans wouldn’t be back for some time while the dog had him busy. Chances were that he would head straight to Grillby’s, as the dog requested, and stay there for the remainder of the day. Papyrus guessed he had plenty of time for a covert cleaning op. 

Rubber gloves and a box of equipment at hand, the skeleton tried his brother’s door. Locked. Of course. 

With a hum, Papyrus stooped down to a loose bit of carpet which didn’t quite attach to the corner of the hallway wall. Peeling it back revealed a key to his brother’s room. With a click, it opened. 

The stale smell hit him immediately. The windows were totally blacked out leaving only shadowy shapes in the dark. Reaching around the doorway, the light switch was flicked on. 

What met his eyes was a scene of devastation. Bowls and plates, a fork jammed into the carpet, sticking up. _So, this was where their cooking utensils had been hiding._ A stack of books, a few old posters which looked as if they had been used for target practice and a shelf with so much crammed into it that it looked fit to burst. 

Wow. He stood in the doorway as if about to enter an arena. This was the final boss battle, the Dark Souls of general household cleaning. 

Thankfully over his years, Papyrus had acquired a skillset fit to deal with this specific thing. This was a worthy challenge, and one he already knew he would overcome.

He set to work with a quick plan. Phase One: Clear the floor space.  
The skeleton picked up everything he classed a ‘rubbish’ and threw it into the trash tornado- an element Papyrus would be able to use against Sans. The plates were gathered. Together they formed quite a tower. Scissors had to be brought out to cut through the carpet under what looked like a mound of old porridge. It had solidified into a brick. 

Papyrus worked fast, the thrill energising him. Finally, he was defeating his arch nemesis! Sans’ room stood no chance! 

An immense pile of socks was slammed into the laundry basket along with every other item of clothing Papyrus found. The papers were stacked into neat piles in one corner. Plenty of science text books, papers with random scribblings on them. Though he didn’t look too closely, one paper, a hand drawn line graph caught his attention. Dates littered the sides of the graph, leading to lines of different lengths. It looked to have had coffee spilled over it at some point. The paper was placed atop the pile of similar things. 

One thing he did not expect to find were the many journals and calendars sitting in a pile against one wall. Left open, curiosity peaked in the skeleton. He leant closer, noting how each day’s events were detailed quite precisely, not a day missed. The stranger thing was, for some reason, Sans seemed to have recounted the same summery, word for word in each of the many books. Unlike Papyrus’s old diaries, they did not state the best or even worst happenings of recent, it remained as more of a cold list of events. Almost scientific in a way. 

What a strange hobby. At least Papyrus knew what to get Sans for his birthday.

Though he tried to not judge, some rather _odd things_ lurked around the space. Some in elaborate hiding places and some haphazardly left on the floor. Lifting the mattress Sans slept on revealed more strange things. One questionable thing was a teddy bear’s head mounted on the curved top of a coat hanger. Papyrus decided that touching it was a bad idea, lest it be cursed. With difficulty, it was tossed in the trash tornado. Everything else found would be forbidden knowledge the skeleton would take to his grave. 

The trash tornado was struggling to keep up with the immense amount of litter adorning it, Papyrus held a fresh rubbish bag to the side of the whirling creation and let the tornado fill the bag itself. 

With this done, the windows opened and an unhealthy amount of air freshener filling the space, the room was starting to lose the horrid smell. Phase One complete. Papyrus could move onto Phase Two: The shelves. 

They were packed will all manner of nonsense. On closer inspection, he realised how truly bad they were. Quickly, it was decided that Papyrus had done enough today. Phase One alone had taken a few hours to complete. Even still, it held nowhere near the high standard Papyrus kept for the rest of the house. This would have to be gradual attack, across several days. 

He concluded the worst thing in the room had to be the mattress. Maybe it was finally time for an upgrade. An actual bed frame was needed, with a new mattress which didn’t look as if it had been burned, thrown into mud or weirdly clawed at. 

Papyrus would break the news to Sans when next he saw him. It would give his brother time to say an emotional goodbye to his old bed. 

Then they could choose a new frame and have fun building it from the flat-pack. What a delightful family bonding experience! 

Packing up his cleaning gear, Papyrus noticed the top of San’s shelves stood a collection of DVDs and mostly VHS tapes. Could they be some of their old family videos? Papyrus had to find out. 

He scooped a selection of them from where they stood and gawked at the thick layer of dust which they wore like a blanket. Once wiped down, they were piled up and taken to the television for examination. A few were blank, some had labels detailing the contents of the recording while others said things like: ‘Test three, day five’. Papyrus shook his head at the unhelpful labels, all in Sans’ recognisable writing. 

With a pile of the tapes in front of him, the skeleton plopped onto the floor in front of the TV. The first VHS was slid into the machine. It played an aged cartoon, rather primitive in nature. A powder blue title card appeared on screen. ‘Big Barry’s Barmy Adventure’. Ooh, so close to that full alliteration title, guess they couldn’t think of a final word starting with ‘B’. 

Big Barry was a blue frog looking monster with similar looking froggy friends. Hand drawn cardboard cut-outs held in front of a nicely painted background depicting various scenes in Waterfall. It was slow paced with an obnoxious narrator who explained everything on screen as if the viewer couldn’t tell what was happening without being told. Papyrus remembered finding that element of the show frustrating even when he was young. 

Alphys would have hated it, nowhere near as colourful or exciting as the human-made programmes she preferred. 

Though he was very much too old now to fully appreciate the show, Papyrus had to admit it was very calming. This was made well before Mettaton took to the stage, so most channels seemed slow and dull. Something the robot star quickly fixed, making even intermissions and the occasional advert more entertaining. 

Bored already, the tape was ejected. Picking out another randomly, this one stated ‘Project R-14’.  
Pressing play, the tape crackled, displaying a blank screen. There was a buzzing in the background. Puzzled, Papyrus readied to eject the thing, assuming it was broken. He stopped when two recognisable voices sounded. 

“You written your weekly report for Professor Macaroni, yet?” 

“Nah, I’m gonna throw it t-together tomorrow night. You turned the c-camera on?” 

“Umm… Oh damn, forgot the lens cap. Nice one, Alph.”

Light suddenly hit the screen, settling to reveal Sans checking the recording. He stood back, swinging his arms, looking off to the side where Alphys must have been lurking. Sans wore a lab coat that looked at least one size too big for him, especially in the shoulders. It had what looked like a coffee stain running from the breast pocket all the way down the left side. A tie also stuck out of his coat at a funny angle, not tied properly. Papyrus tutted at his brother’s appearance. 

This recording was from a room in the lab, mostly greys and whites in the background. Wires and tubes ran from along the floor and up to the ceiling. The Sans depicted on screen was bright eyed with an honest smile, he looked excited and joyful. “Greetings fellow inhabitants of this fine planet.” He began in a croaky joke voice, “I am captain Xeranzigis of the vessel Poopscoopicus, traveller of the cosmos. I have come to make trade with your people.” Alphys laughed from off-screen.

“Focus, Sans!” Alphys called in what would have been a stern voice, though she was clearly entertained by his antics. “This has got to go in your f-file, too.” 

Sans shrugged, “I present all my projects like this, they have story lines and running jokes and everything.” 

“Seriously? Ignis or the Doc have never told you off for that?” She sounded surprised. Papyrus was also surprised. 

“Nah, I think the Professor digs ‘um. At least I hope so. And Doc… well.” Sans said, looking sheepish. “Ok, ok. We’ll do this ‘properly’.” He grinned, making air quotes with his fingers. As if restarting the recording, Sans waved at the camera, “Yo, welcome to mine and Alphys’ project! Boy, have we got some fun in store for your viewing pleasure. Today we’ll be activating the Robot of Doom!” He said almost perfectly replicating the voice and hand movements of someone presenting a daytime bargain hunting show. 

“It’s not called that!” Alphys shouted from somewhere across the room.

Ignoring her, the skeleton continued. “This fine machine has been created for the purpose of gauging the level of power of potentially dangerous objects. For instance…” He pulled a glowing purple stone from his pocket, “this magical rock thing. The Robot of Doom will scan it and convert the readings it takes into readable levels so we can determine course of action.” 

“D-did you just have that in your coat pocket?!” Alphys squeaked. Giving away that this was a possibly dangerous object.

Sans looked in her off-screen direction and merely winked. “The robot has built in wheels and remote control to keep dangerous… stuff at a safe distance. The idea is to eventually develop a larger scale thing to accurately determine the exact amount of power running through the Barrier, so we can figure alternate ways of destroying it. You hear that? We’re going to break the Barrier!” He shouted at the end, excitedly waving his arms.

A ‘Woop’ sounded from off-screen, echoed by Sans. 

Alphys appeared in camera frame. Like Sans, she looked young much younger. Her scales a slightly paler yellow and dressed neatly in her uniform. This must have been around the time which Sans introduced her and Papyrus to one another. 

The lizard was pushing a sizable box shape robot into view. It moved on wheels, several arm attachments sticking out of its sides. Bulky and unrefined compared to her future work. Impressive none the less. It had a rather flashy paintjob. 

“So, here’s the Robot of Doom.” Sans announced, “Ta-daa! Alphys did all of the work, I just did the painting.” 

Alphys, who made final checks on the robot, gave a snort of laughter. “Oh, come on, y-you did more than that.” 

“Yeah, you’re right. I made the drill arm.” Sans said, poking a finger to what was indeed a drill attached to one of the arms. 

With a rumble and a whirr, the robot came to life. A few lights shining on its body. What appeared to be the sensor arm bobbed up and down as it waited. Alphys reached for the remote control while Sans placed the glowing stone onto the floor a few feet from their machine. 

“B-begin test four. Showing full movement and scanning capabilities.” Alphys said slowly and clearly for the camera. She seemed to be taking this slightly more seriously than her project partner. 

“Can we use the drill arm?” Sans interjected. 

Alphys pushed a button, the gentle whizzing sound of the drill spinning was barely caught by the camera. “There you go. We can’t d-drill the gemstone.” Alphys plainly stated. 

“Yeah, I know we can’t do that. What about the leg of that table there? C’mon, the Doc wouldn’t have to know.” Sans tried, his grin widening mischievously.

“No!” Alphys said firmly, though she was obviously trying to hide her humour. 

As he watched, Papyrus found himself grinning at the pair’s antics. 

The pair stood back. With a flick of the remote the robot lurched back. The movement sudden and jarring, enough that it made Papyrus jump in surprise. Alphys demonstrated its range of movement. It was clunky and moved in fast jerky motions. Still, for a couple of students, it was very impressive. 

“Aww yeah, look at him go!” Sans cheered, “Look at our boy go! Look at him, Alph, so big and strong!” 

“Sans stop it, y-you’re making it weird.” She said trying to get the robot to face the purple rock once more. The sensor arm extended slowly as the robot inched forwards. “Now, if we’re careful, w-we should-.” 

Suddenly, the machine lurched forwards. The sensor arm struck the gemstone roughly. In a ping and a crackle what looked like purple bolts of electricity shot through the robot. There was a disturbing grinding noise as the robot shook. Both apprentice’s faces fell. 

The shaking lessened, smoke rising from the cracks in the painted metal plating. Sans and Alphys cautiously crept towards the machine. 

One of the arms shot back, slamming Sans across the face with a crack! He yelled, stumbling back and clutching his nose. “No! Robot of Doom!” He whined. 

Alphys made a squeal of distress as the machine stopped responding to her controls, jittering about on its own. The two jumped back, avoiding flailing arms. It homed in on them, following the friends as they sidestepped behind desks around the camera. The robot carelessly knocking into tables and equipment, knocking thing over and shunting desks. 

They sprinted for the door, Sans nearly slipping over on his long coat. “Help! We’re being attacked!” He shrieked in terror as they both disappeared around the door and down the next hallway. 

Robot of Doom, now living up to its name, attempted to give chase. It was let down by the drill arm becoming stuck in the doorframe. It wiggled to get free, the movement snapping the drill off. It flew, arcing through the air towards the camera and- _Pop!_

As it hit the camera, the recording stopped. 

Papyrus struggled to breath through his laughter. The skeleton was disappointed, he would have loved to see what had happened to the Robot of Doom. He wondered how that story ended. Were more hilarious antics had, or did it just ware itself out eventually, no one daring to enter while it rampaged? 

In the spirit of seeing a younger, funnier Sans enjoying his job and getting up to no good; the next tape was chosen. 

‘Construct seven, success.’ Was the title of the next tape. This one struggled to start and required and extra tap to encourage the player. 

The recording clicked on. The room was darker this time, no background buzzing. Papyrus recognised the room, this was Sans’ old office, his ‘home away from home’, as he’d called it.

Sans himself stood centre frame. He looked tired, uniform sagging as much as his posture. His usual grin was gone from his face. He looked older than the previous video, this mush have been the later days of had lab work.

“Ok, test number… seventeen? Eighteen? Whatever.” He sighed. “Magic construct- Teleportation. After implanting the construct five weeks previous and letting my magic adapt, I have been trying in vain to get the teleportation to work. This week I have made yet another adjustment to the constructs main data file. Hopefully this patch will do the trick.” He sounded annoyed. Papyrus had no concept of what his brother was talking about. It was clear that whatever this was, was exhausting him, and had been for some time. Papyrus could remember several times that lab projects had aggravated Sans for sometimes weeks at a time. 

He continued, “If this doesn’t work now then it’s back to the drawing board, for now. Having to adapt to these things it really taking it out on me. My magic levels are all over the place.” Sans said, wiping a hand across his skull. 

Papyrus almost expected this to be the setup for a joke, though none came.  
“So, the plan today is teleport anywhere else and back here immediately.” He said with reluctance, standing back further into the open space of his office. A moment passed where Sans looked past the camera. In silence, holding himself in a way that anticipated something awful happening. It would be clear to anyone watching that the skeleton on screen was having serious doubts about going through with this experiment. 

After a few long seconds dragged on, Sans broke out of the trance with a defeated sigh. “S’ok. Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work out. Think of the bigger picture.” He prompted himself quietly under his breath. It made Papyrus wonder what had gone so badly in previous experiments.

“Ok, here we go, I guess.” Sans announced, “See you on the other side, hopefully.” 

He took a few long deep breaths, closed his eyes and-. 

There was a flicker and Sans disappeared. 

Papyrus sat up straight, wide eyed as only a second later Sans reappeared. 

He stumbled, the edges of his coat flapping as if he had been falling. San gasped, clutching at himself. “D-did that w-work?!” He blinked, the lights of his eyes tiny.  
Where he held himself steady, drawing in deep breaths, an astounded smile threatened to appear. His huffs turned to small disbelieving laughs. Standing back up, Sans called, “One more go. To be sure.” 

Again, with a cringe, he blinked out for one, two, three seconds before reappearing. Sans nearly stumbled into his desk this time. He grabbed at this chest in pain, though a start of a smile was on his face now. Suddenly not looking so tired, despite being breathless, the skeleton hurried over the camera. 

“Hey, Doc! Doc!” He called, grabbing the camera and hurrying out of the room. The recording ended there. 

Not knowing quite what to think, Papyrus sat back. Sans had teleported! Amazing, what an achievement! His brother couldn’t do that anymore, right? Everyone would know if that was the case. Not that Papyrus knew much at all about artificial magic. He remembered it being a very controversial topic some years ago, some monsters getting upset about people being equipped with powerful unnatural magic. The dangers behind that had many people debating the safety and ethic behind it. There had been more to the discussion, something Papyrus had paid little attention to. 

It was interesting seeing Sans this way. Two videos from the same period in his life, each contrasting the other greatly. He had been highly invested in his work, loved it even. Why leave? 

Always the same question. 

Did something go wrong with the artificial magic? Was it a side effect of that which sent Sans off the rails as much as he had done? Maybe something went wrong with a teleport? Asking Sans directly would give him no answers, his brother disliked any topic relating to the labs these days. Papyrus would also have to admit he had been snooping through Sans’ tapes. Perhaps he could discreetly ask?

Shrugging to himself, Papyrus replaced the video in the machine. He was on a roll, maybe this third tape would give some answers. 

Another lab tape buzzed to life, this one with the odd fuzzy line running up the screen. The audio crackled. It opened in a dimly lit hallway, an ominous red glow illuminated the scene. Both Alphys and Sans this time with another monster, quite amorphous looking with a large head. The three seemed to be wiring together a large machine. The machine itself was quite frightening, shaped like a large skull. The camera sat showing the profile of the strange object, with a hallway in the background.

Who on earth would design a machine, to look like that? For what purpose?

Papyrus could only begin to guess at its function. 

Something moved in the corridor behind, another bout of static rose across the screen. The monsters in the foreground chatted quietly about their work, which wire attached to what, the output of different controls. They worked quickly, as if to a deadline. As the figure advanced towards them, the screen crackled more. Something tall and dark, strangely recognisable, but where from? 

Papyrus’s head hurt the more he tried to focus on it. Closer and closer it drew. 

Just before it hit the lights, the figure spoke. A loud garbled mess of sounds erupted from the TV set. Alphys screamed as she jumped upright, the noise cutting in and out with the static which made the image nearly undecipherable. 

“Afternoon, Dr Ga-.” The third monster began to say, static totally cutting the rest of the video off. 

As the TV hissed, images played in the skeleton’s head. _Black, dripping, tar, trying, hand, clawing, darkness, soulless, get out._

With a yelp, Papyrus jammed his finger onto the eject button harder than needed. The tape popped out. The skeleton ripped it from the player. Flinging it away from him, letting the thing land on the sofa. 

Papyrus realised he was gasping, eyes wide. A feeling of complete terror pouring through him. _What was that?!_

Slowly, giving himself time, Papyrus gathered himself off the floor replacing the pile of tapes back onto Sans’ shelf, as neatly as he found it. Returning downstairs, the scary tape was thrown into the trash. No one needed to see that, whatever it had been… what _had_ it been? 

Papyrus decided that his tape exploration was over for the day. A jog would clear his head. Yes, most defiantly. 

 

Sans held the door open to the bar, leaning his weight on the old wooden frame as he panted. That was the most exercise he’d done in years. The little white fluffy ‘dog’ blasted inside through his legs. The little thing was still excited and full of energy despite the run around he had been put through. 

The dog ran up to the bar happily, waiting for Sans to stumble after him.

‘I don’t like that dog in here.’ Grillby instantly remarked, glaring down at the bouncy little animal. 

“S’ok, won’t be here for long.” Sans groaned. He nearly collapsed on the side of the bar, heaving in air. 

The place was slowly regaining its usual customers, the folks of Snowdin gradually coming to their senses. They must have realised that the bar was really, the only thing to do in Snowdin, unless they wanted to make the bakery or library their new hangout spot, which was not at all likely. 

A few concerned faced followed Sans as he slumped over the bar, looking like he might dust. Grillby looked down at him sceptically. 

Dogaressa smiled as she shouted over, “Someone been giving you a run around?” 

Sans just gave her a thumbs up as confirmation without turning around. His head falling to the wooden surface with a hollow thud. The dog was sat at his feet looking expectant. 

“I’ll have…” He glanced at the dog, the little thing yapped, making a wide-eyed face as if about to be given its dinner. “I’ll have ‘a bottle of your finest and most expensive spirit’.” Sans reeled of as if he had been dragged along to go shopping. 

Grillby tilted his head, regarding Sans. ‘Are you ok?’ 

“Maybe. It’s for him.”

‘The dog?’ The flame monster asked in disbelief. 

Sans nodded, head still against the surface of the bar. “Yep.” 

Grillby looked reluctant. ‘Is that a shapeshifter or something?’

Sans countered with pleading eyes. “No, just a damn dog.” He replied almost mournfully. 

‘I’m not letting you have this on your tab.’ He warned.

“That’s fine.” Sans said, defeated. 

With a final wary glance, Grillby disappeared into his back room. 

Sans looked down at the dog. “You know those dog biscuits I had for you? I’m throwing them out.” He stated. 

The dog titled his head sadly and whined. 

“That’s right.” The skeleton said in a playful tone. “This is unfair and you don’t get anything else nice. Oh no you don’t!” He ruffled the fur on the dog’s head. It looked very sad. 

The light in the room shifted, Sans looked back to see Grillby returning with a very old bottle of something. “Ok, out now.” Sans ordered in a much sterner tone pointing at the door. This didn’t seem to dampen the animal’s mood as he now padded around Sans’ feet, yapping at him in excitement. With the bottle in hand Sans pushed the door open. The dog flew out, circling, eyes locked on its prize. Practically dropping the old bottle into the snow, Sans glared at the small creature. With one final bark, the dog picked up the bottle by the neck and, with some difficulty dragged it off to somewhere behind the building. 

“Thanks.” Sans said, as he leaned back against the bar. “Pretty sure he was gonna kill me if I didn’t do that.” 

‘I will leave that story with you.’ Grillby sighed. 

“I don’t have enough gold on me for that, do I?” Sans asked, without even checking.

‘No.’ Grillby confirmed. 

Cringing, the skeleton whispered, “Sort it tomorrow?” 

‘Of course.’ The elemental replied softly, already turning away to busy himself with something else. 

Almost immediately another voice caught his attention.  
“Ayy, Sans! You know science, right?” 

Turning to face the speaker revealed Goldwell. The lizard patting the empty seat next to him. On a circular table surrounded by Snowdin’s first batch of newcomers- Shrubberthree, the bug couple and a very downcast Cloudnine. The group seemed to have become close friends since their move, with their landlord joining in when he was around town, which seemed to be a lot these days. Sans wondered whether Goldwell was truly close friends with anyone accept Shrubberthree, who seemed very tolerant of his antics. 

“Science? Maybe, why’d you ask?” Sans said, sauntering over. 

The three headed plant monster spoke up in it’s vaguely female voice, “Golds trying to blind us with fake science again.” They said humorously.

“I am not! You know, I used to study sciences at the university. Unfortunately, after all my studying they didn’t want me, said ‘it wasn’t for me’.” He tutted in an overexaggerated way. “So, I took my passions elsewhere.” 

“Speaking of passions, I think you charged us too much for last months rent.” Cloudnine squeaked. The usually bubbly monster slumped over the side of the table, a miserable grey. 

Well, that was news to Sans. Goldwell too studied sciences. Most likely under Ignis’s teaching, considering it seemed he hadn’t made it too far. Ignis was a strange, lovely monster if one got to know him, though the salamander was strict and incredibly serious about his subject. Along the way through his studies, Sans knew many monsters who were turned away for not meeting the Professor’s standard.  
Who knows, maybe in some alternate universe he could have found himself working alongside Goldwell. 

Nobody seemed to acknowledge Cloud’s statement as they moved on with their chatter. 

“I don’t need a scientist to explain what happened.” The large green insect, Honey, said. “I’m sure if I just clear my mind and meditate on it, it’ll figure it out.” She said in a tone which reminded Sans of Toriel.

“What’s up?” The skeleton asked.

Shrubberthree interjected, “We’re talking about the fight the other week with the guard and… you know.” They started excitably before trailing off awkwardly.

Honey leaned forwards, her pink dress getting caught on the spines of her thorax. “Well during the commotion, I left with Goldwell and Shrub to find some assistance.” She said, nodding to the relevant monsters as she named them.

“I got left behind. Short legs n’ all.” Shrubberthree giggled, butting in once more. 

The larger bug continued, “I remember running through the first few streams of waterfall and then, well, nothing. I suddenly awoke in one of Hotland’s cooldown stations. Woke up, not knowing how I’d gotten there.”

Her husband and bondmate looked concerned, this had clearly been bothering him also. He looked to Goldwell for an explanation.

Catching Beansprout’s large orange eyes, Goldwell shrugged. “Shrub isn’t the only one with short legs. I lost sight of you about a minute into Waterfall.” He said mostly to Honey. 

Remembering the unnerving video Alphys had shown him, Sans threw in an idea. “Don’t remember seeing a weird black dripping thing? Headache? Nausea? Cryptic messages? Odd question I know.” He glanced at Shrubberthree to gauge their reaction. Along with all the others, Shrubberthree looked puzzled, no recognition on any of their faces which looked between each other in confusion. “Eh, don’t think about it.” Sans added, shrugging. 

“The only phenomenon I’ve heard similar to that is the tall man with the cracked face. People sometimes describe it like that, right?” Honey suggested, “Not that I’ve heard people talk about it personally. Goldwell loves to remind us of that one whenever he can. One of his favourite cryptic happenings.” She said with an eyeroll.  
Indeed, Goldwell nodded, clearly thankful to have imparted his knowledge onto another. 

“Nah, doesn’t sound like it.” Sans said, resting his head on his hand. 

Shrubberthree shrugged their leaves, “Honey, I told you its noting to worry about. I’ve blacked out like that before and I’ve always been fine.” They gently reassured.  
“Is it not your ‘herbal remedies’ which make you do that?” Cloudnine whispered, voice tiny and strained. Their comment went unheard. 

Tapping a claw against the table, the lizard beside Sans looked ready to burst all of a sudden. “I think it was a human. _The human!_ The secret one who lives amongst us.” His sandy scales looking a mustard colour in the orange light of the bar. 

Both Shrubberthree and Honey sighed at this. Cloudnine and Beansprout did not react in the slightest. 

“No, really. I think a human could have done that. Did you know that some are so strong that they can cause monsters to even pass out in their presence?” Goldwell spoke fast and excited as his threadbare voice could allow him to sound. 

Honey snorted, “What? And they carried me all the way through waterfall into Hotland and kindly left me somewhere I wouldn’t overheat until I awoke?” She asked, amused, “That human who came through here a while back was tiny. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a big bug, darling.” 

Sans discreetly flicked his eyes to the green bug’s soul, where it floated unseen to everyone but him. From what he could gather from a quick glance, she was being truthful. Something strange had happened in Waterfall which left the pair of bugs very confused. 

“I’ve heard that the most powerful humans can manipulate time.” A voice squeaked from across the table.  
All eyes instantly fell between Shrubberthree and Honey’s place at the table where Cloudnine stared at the cracks in the old wooden table. “It’s called being ‘determined’. If they’re determined enough, they can even return from death.” Their gaze finally rose, looking into the eyes of everyone in the group with all of Cloud’s many tiny faces. “Can you imagine that? Being able to control death?” 

No one said a word. The question was asked in such an icy, emotionless way that it left the whole group stunned. The bug couple looked confused while Shrubberthree, Goldwell and no doubt Sans looked worried. Whether that worry came from intimate knowledge of the subject, In Sans’ case, or worry at Cloud’s expense could only be guessed. 

“That’s just folklore, though. A story, right?” The plant monster asked, two of their heads looking to one another and nodding.

Cloud said not a word, their eyes returning to the table. 

Goldwell forced a laugh, long smile curling up his face, lengthy fangs popping into view. Despite this, his large pink eyes looked uncertain. “Well that is certainly a well-known tale. I assume that’d be more your department, right Sans?” 

The skeleton looked between the others at the table. He noticed Honey’s very subtle expression had changed to something he couldn’t quite identify, thanks to her insectoid features. “Pfft, that’s a theory, I think that's pretty _determinable._ ” Sans forced a laugh. “Heh, I think it’s time for a drink if anyone wants to Reset their glasses.” He quickly stood. Remembering his conversation with Alphys, he pulled out something to redirect the discussion. Shooting finger guns at Honey, Sans remarked, “Hey, maybe it was just someone using memory magic on ya’.” Honey appeared to hold interest in his suggestion. Sans left the group quickly.

From the bar, Sans eyed the conversation on the table as it slowly restarted. Honey looked anxious. Her partner had clearly picked up on this change through the link between their shared souls. Both bugs sat chattering to one another in peculiar clicks from their mandibles. Their own strange language. Sans wondered whether his throwaway memory magic idea had sparked something. Beansprout, a quiet monster by nature seemed to be trying to get Honey to talk about the sudden change in her. She, on the other hand, seemed reluctant.

‘Everything alright?’ Asked Grillby into Sans’ mind, startling him. 

Sans turned to see his friend fussing over another customer’s burger.  
“Oh, just a fun ol’ time.” Sans hissed sarcastically through his unnatural grin. “Don’t really want to stay for another drink, the sofa is calling for me.”

Reaching under the counter, Grillby deposited two ketchup packets onto the bar. 

“Oh, that’s a good plan. Nice one, Grillbz.” Sans smiled. At least they’d be quicker to finish than a drink.

‘Good luck.’ Grillby wished him. 

Returning to the table had Honey standing, about to leave. She had gone from mildly anxious to highly nervous looking. Beansprout following her movements closely. The smaller brown bug spoke for the first time that evening, “Wonderful talking with you all, friends. We’ll be seeing you soon.” He leaned closer to Cloudnine, who looked like a grey slug, sliding off their side of the table. “Cloud, would you like some company to your door?” 

The grey mass shifted and Cloudnine stirred. They fluttered upwards, hanging in the air. “Bye.” The normally energetic monster whispered, barely audible over the noise of the bar. 

“Enjoy your night.” Honey called lovingly as she led the group out of the door. Something in her posture gave away her sudden need to leave.

“They ok?” Sans asked, nodding in the direction of the bugs as the bar door closed behind them.

Goldwell shrugged, staring after the group, he still wore his unsettling grin. 

The plant monster beside him stretched and fluttered their leaves. “Maybe she remembered something?” They said, interested. “I wonder what? Maybe your human idea rubbed of on her, or maybe what you said about magic? I’ve heard memory magic is less effective if a monster is soul bound, because they’re always connected to someone else. I think that’s why Beansprout has been so worried about her, their connection went fuzzy for a while, so I’ve heard.” Shrub rambled. 

“How’d you know that? The bonding thing?” Goldwell asked, giving his friend an odd look.

One of the plants flowery heads winked, “You hear lots in Waterfall, even more at the jail.”

Goldwell nodded, as if this answered his question. Sans was still curious.  
“The jail in Hotland?” Sans questioned.

Shrub made a noise of confirmation, nodding each of their heads out of sync. “Part of the community work I do is with troubled monsters. I visit them in jail occasionally. Nasty place. Foul Guards.”

Sans tore open one of the sauce packets. He hummed in acknowledgement. Shrubberthree was a pretty cool monster. They were brave, if to venture willingly down into the cave’s depths, down to where the dungeons were. Sans had never had the displeasure of going, though he had once seen pictures. A shiver running up his spine at the thought of the place. The skeleton felt disappointed in himself for judging Shrub based on appearance during their first meeting. At least they proved not all plant monsters were psychopaths. “Sooo, what’s up with Cloud?”

Shrubberthree folded their leaves in what replicated a crossed arm pose. “You can’t tell?” 

“No.” Sans said, pausing as he emptied a packet of sauce into his mouth. 

The plant monster tutted, “It’s Egg, isn’t it.” They remarked as if this was obvious. “They were friends? Roommates? Partners?” Shrubberthree looked to Goldwell who looked dismissive, taking a sip of his coffee. 

“Seriously? Cloud had something going on with him?” Sans gawked. 

The plant monster hummed, “You aren’t very perceptive of people, are you?” 

Not unless it was visible in their soul. “No.” He agreed once more. Aware that he had made note to pay attention to Cloudnine after the strange occurrence in the Judgement Hall. Something he had failed with. Was he allowed to, now that his Judge role had been taken from him? Sans decided he wouldn’t think of it right now.

“Don’t become a therapist, Sans.” The plant suggested. Sticking a rooty arm into their drink.

“It’s probably me who needs a therapist.” Sans grumbled under his breath, only half joking.

Goldwell spoke up, “That’s the thing, they were ‘something’. We can’t figure out _what_. Cloud was the only one Egg ever spoke to but Cloud never mentioned Egg.” 

“And no one ever dared to ask.” Shrub finished with a shiver. Clearly everyone felt intimidated by the strange monster. “I think people should be nicer about Egg. They don’t think of his remaining family before saying such horrible things. Egg clearly had some issues.” 

“Clearly.” Sans said as he stood. “I’m heading out for the night guys, see you both soon, yeah?” 

They said their goodbyes, Sans remembering something, stopping at the table, “Oh, Shrub, my bro said he saw you in Waterfall last week.” He said, cheerily. 

The plant’s heads looked at each other before swivelling back to Sans. “We see so many people at work, I struggle to remember all their faces. I don’t really remember. Ooh, but don’t tell him I’ve forgotten, don’t want to seem uncaring.” They answered honestly. 

“Sure, no probs. Laters guys.” Sans waved as he made his escape for the door, done with socialising for tonight.

 

Papyrus greeted him from the sofa when Sans walked in. A puzzle book in his hand, Junior Jumble this time by the looks of it, ah, his brother’s favourite.  
“Good evening Sans, back early. There is food cooling on the stove, if you haven’t eaten.” Papyrus welcomed him with a warm smile. 

Equipped with a bowl of what looked suspiciously like lasagne, though only barely, Sans headed for the stairs. “Seeya in the morning bro, gonna get an early night.”

“Oh, I cleaned your room. Some of it anyway. Ignore the bald patches in the carpet, I had to cut some of it.” Papyrus said, quickly adding, “I'm getting you a new bed, also I swear I saw nothing suspicious.” 

“R-really? You didn’t have to.” Sans cringed.

Papyrus gave him a very knowing look, “Oh, I very much had to.”

Sans coughed, “Well, thanks.” He said, trying maybe too hard to give a genuine smile. 

He was halfway up the to his room when Papyrus called out once more.  
“Sans, you can’t teleport, can you?” He asked. 

Turning on the spot, Sans blinked down at his brother. “…No.” 


	23. Guilty until proven innocent

In keeping with his promise to Alphys, Sans spent the better part of the following morning writing an account of the Resets he had experienced. With his bedroom compromised, thanks to Papyrus’s cleaning, another place had to be found for him to work in peace. That really only left one place.

The old basement lab had a funny smell to it now. Damp crept down the wall in small amounts, illuminating the odd patch of green in the intense light. Ripping the dustsheet from his computer, Sans realised his mind had misplaced the log in details for the old machine. Thankfully, he had not forgotten the location of where he had once scribbled it. An old jokebook was pulled from the shelf and dusted off. Turning to a dogeared page revealed a sequence of letters and numbers which Sans tapped into the PC. 

After a few handfuls of snacks, he began to recount all which he remembered, from the start. 

The first appearance of Flowey up to his first Reset. The weed had manipulated the timelines so frequently, that Sans had quickly lost track of how many times it had been or what had transpired between each Reset. 

He resorted to making a bullet pointed list of the general things he remembered, ranging from feigned kindness, strange outcomes and all manner of vile cruelty. The list piled up quickly. Sans decided not to mention the names of Flowey’s favourite victims, the monsters who he would seek out most frequently to try whatever newly conceived torture the plant had thought up. Sans remembered who they were and that was enough.

A shiver ran up his spine. Whatever the human had done could hardly compare to Flowey. Sans tried never to dwell on those old memories, which in reality, were not that old at all. The worst the human had done was give him hope. The idea that they would break Flowey’s chain of misery, set them free and allow the friends to stay happy and close. It had been so real. They had done it, he had _been there._

When the child had proven his fears correct and continued in the same downward fashion that Flowey had done, it confirmed the idea in Sans’ mind that a power of such proportions should never be allowed in anyone’s hands, regardless of their character. The temptation too great. 

His anger that followed the human, an anger which built until it could no longer be contained stemmed only partly from what the child had done but more so what they could have been. They could have been enjoying a life of freedom on the surface. The joy of those few short weeks above ground was overridden by spite.

Moving on from Flowey, the human’s Resets were much fresher in Sans’ mind. He found himself able to give concise detail of what the human had done and how that had affected monster society in the days and weeks going forward. 

Sans left out the details of what had befallen Alphys during these times. This document was for her to read, the idea of his friend having to read documentation of her suicide seemed cruel and unnecessary. Sans was already worried about Alphys as things stood, and it wasn’t like the event had been a single occurrence but rather a regularity across more than a few timelines. 

Though he pushed his emotions down as firmly as possible, quickly, the skeleton found his writing becoming difficult. It was emotionally exhausting recounting how more and more of his friends seemed to disappear with every fresh Reset. Sans was reminded of the constant cycle he had lived by: Endure what the anomaly brought upon them. Wish for a Reset to repair their damage. Be thankful momentarily when that prayer was answered. Sit back and watch as the anomaly caused even more damage, bringing forth an even darker fate for those remaining. Wish for the Reset to come once more. Rinse, repeat. 

Confronted with the frequent need to leave the computer for some air, Sans spent a while that morning stood amongst the trees behind his house. The calming sound of the nearby river was appreciated as he continued to remind himself that this was for Alphys. This was for a chance to change something for the monsters. 

If they could indeed figure a way to detect these occurrences, could anything still be done about them? If you wake up to an alarm telling you you’ve been stuck in Groundhog Day and have in fact experienced this moment at least forty times, you’re still going to respond to that information the same way every time. Creating a detection system is fine, but realistically, it does nothing. Even if everyone could remember, a plan to stop the anomaly, a machine of sorts maybe, could be blinked back out of existence the second the anomaly caught wind of it. 

The only thing they could do to prevent another anomaly would be to create their own. If what had occurred with Flowey losing his power when the stronger human had arrived, then seemingly the only way to beat the threat was to create a bigger one. 

Of course, that was out of the question too, as reminded today. No anomaly could be trusted. Maybe except for Papyrus, Sans could only imagine that his brother would find some way to make everyone in the Underground at peace with themselves. The idea made him smile. Yes, maybe Papyrus would be an exception.

Perhaps Alphys had the right idea researching Determination once more. 

Sans sighed as he slumped back into his desk chair after another breather outside. He had worked hard and not given into the little voice in his head which urged him to just go back to bed for the day. That just wouldn’t do. Papyrus was busy having something of an urgent meeting with Undyne, or it had sounded that way by the phone call he overheard that morning. His brother would be very disappointed if Sans did not bother to work his sentry post today… Not that there was any point in him being there anyway. Still, it made Papyrus happy.

With that thought, he returned to his work. 

Only one more entry to write, and possibly the longest of the bunch. The timeline before the Reset which brought him to this point. The one where the human killed everyone. Not quite everyone, Sans reminded himself.  
He recounted their many battles in the Judgement Hall. Went over what he could remember, the possibly thousands of times he killed them. As timelines and Resets went, that time stuck fighting the human was a blur, Sans had been in such a daze throughout the event. He made sure to add all the detail of when the timeline had started to break. Cracks in the walls widening gradually into gaping wells of darkness. The strange effects it seemed to have on the pair of them and, of course, the moment the kid finally conceded and Reset. How it didn’t occur instantly but instead stuttered back into life gradually, like an engine refusing to start. 

But there was more than that, the story didn’t quite end there. Fingers hovered above the keyboard unsure. Did he dare share what had followed as he had awaited the timelines Reset? 

Minutes of silence dragged on as the skeleton sat still as death, contemplating. Finally, remembering his promise to Alphys, Sans chose three short sentences, summing up the end of that timeline. 

The words sat in front of him, a feeling like being punched in the chest sat heavy on his ribs. Breathing out a shaky breath, Sans concluded with a final footnote, _‘And then we all awoke here, the rest, you remember.’_

And with that, the old computer and basement lab were darkened and locked back up. 

 

Papyrus paced around in front of Undyne’s house. A bewildered expression etched onto his face. “No, I refuse to believe it. They must have got… something wrong, there’s no-.” 

“And the test says that it was his. I can’t disregard hard evidence.” Undyne reminded him, their conversation going around in circles. She was beginning to look irritated.

“But I know it can’t be Sans!” Papyrus pleaded. What she was insinuating was absolute rubbish. 

“Ya got proof?” Flyguy, the sickly green insect had been called for the occasion, as well as his friend, Arcas, the bear. The bug rolled his stalk eyes, arms folded. It seemed the monster had little patience for this sort of exercise.

“I-. W-well.” The skeleton babbled, trying to anything to use in his brother’s defence. The onslaught of- in his opinion unreasonable accusation, made Papyrus want to shrink away. 

Undyne stepped closer, sadness in her eyes as she watched her friend tremble. “Pap, look, I’m sorry that this is happening but-.” 

Papyrus cut her off this time, he balled his fists in opposition, rising to meet their allegation with his own argument. His voice rose several pitches higher than what was probably natural, “You are _not_ sorry! You’ve been wanting this for weeks now!”

Undyne attempted to speak again though she was interrupted before a sound could even leave her. 

Her friend pointed accusingly, “And w-what was all that about this being up to me? That you had no time for this investigation. I’m the detective here, not you! And I s-say my brother stays where he is!” This was a betrayal of his trust, both his and Sans’. How could she? 

The two guardsmen watching exchanged looks. Clearly, they hadn’t seen anyone get away with speaking to their Captain like this before. 

Saying nothing else, Undyne stepped forwards towards Papyrus. Her shoulders squared and expression serious. The skeleton flinched, not quite knowing how to take this. 

Undyne stopped close to him, her single yellow eye glinting. “If ya mad, you can throw an attack at me if ya’ like.” She said, more casually than he’d expected. 

Papyrus shook his head, trying and failing to not get upset. No trace of aggression in him. 

Undyne advanced, roughly pulling him into a hug. It took Papyrus by surprise, the mood of the moment being so sour.

“Not a bad bone in ya’ body, you.” Undyne said in what was probably supposed to be a soft voice. 

His breath shuddered, clinging onto the edges of her armour, “Please d-don’t take him away, he’s m-my only family.” Papyrus whimpered.

“I know.” She said, holding him tightly against the tough plate of her armour. 

“H-he needs m-me.” Papyrus trembled.

A hand patted against his back, reassuring, “I think you might find Sans is pretty badass when he needs to be.”

The skeleton just sniffled in response. 

An awkward cough sounded from behind them, presumably from Flyguy. It went ignored. 

“If ya’ don’t mind me sayin’, I think there are a few things Sans hasn’t been very honest with you about. But regardless of that and regardless that the two of us may not see eye to eye- or should I say eyes to eye. I know he cares about you so damn much.” She smiled.  
When Papyrus said nothing, she continued, “This isn’t about what you or I want, this is about the law. If we find evidence to support him, then he comes home. For now, we have enough to hold him in a cell, and we have to do that. But that’s all. You are the detective, Pap, this is just one of the harder parts of your job.” She urged in such a gentle encouraging way that it shocked Papyrus.

Used to a boisterous tough Undyne, it was refreshing to occasionally see her being softer. Like usual, her words sounded honest. He nodded, reaching up to wipe a tear from his face. 

She leaned back, letting their eyes meet, “You ok?”

Papyrus, teary eyed, pried his hands away from where they clasped to the edges of her armour. He saluted her, understanding what was needed. Not that that made it any easier. 

“Now there’s the fire I like to see.” She grinned, pulling him back in for one more crushing hug before stepping back to tidy and smooth out his scarf. She stood close, fussing over him until Papyrus’s breathing had mostly calmed.

“You ready?” 

With one sharp intake of breath which he released very slowly, the skeleton nodded, “Ready.”

 

_He remembers how the human left them._

_He remembers Undyne’s call for bloodshed as she riles up not just her soldiers but the civilian population also. Toriel attempts to retake her old role as Queen and the Captain is having none of it. He remembers Undyne’s surprise when the Queen puts up no fight and retires back to the Ruins. Sans joins her. She is too kind to him. Toriel talks lovingly about the human child. She hopes they are warm and safe on the surface. He can’t bring himself to tell her what the child has done. It doesn’t matter, neither are alone anymore. Nothing matters._

“Sans.”

With a startled shudder, Sans awoke from the dream, the memory likely brought on thanks to his earlier duty on the computer. 

Raising his head, Sans was surprised to see not just his brother but Undyne as well as two other Guardsmen he failed to recognise. Instantly, he felt on edge as they stood by his sentry post. 

It was obvious Papyrus had been crying, the ridged way he moved made it clear to Sans that he was putting on a brave face.

“Uhh, hey guys, something the matter?” Sans grinned nervously, an uneasy feeling shifting inside his bones.

Undyne moved to speak but was silenced as Papyrus stepped forwards, “Sans, I’m afraid I bring bad news.” He said in a sturdy cold voice, which wasn’t normally associated with his brother. “We have received word back from the lab, from the monster who tested the magical energy around the crime scenes. The residue matches your magic. Hundred percent match on both scenes.” His hands wrung together in front of him.

“What?” Sans replied barely above a whisper. Sitting up straighter, he tried to knock his mind out of sleeping mode.

Nodding, Papyrus continued on, faltering noticeably as he spoke. “I’m afraid t-this will mean you will be detained for a while as we gather more evidence. You won’t be required to visit the Royal Judge or any such thing yet, just s-standard procedure.”

Frowning, Sans searched the faces of the others. The look that Undyne wore was not what he had expected. While he imagined that she would be gleeful and elated at the prospect of his arrest, she in fact looked rather torn. 

“Sans, did you get that?” Papyrus asked, trying to stay stern but looking strained. “You need to come with us.” He prompted. 

Barely able to form the words, Sans looked pleadingly up at his brother, “But I wasn’t there.” He murmured. 

“There is enough evidence to suggest you might have been. W-we can discuss this later.” Papyrus countered. 

Looking between them all again he stuttered, “Wait, n-no, I-.”

Undyne stepped forwards, “Sans, come on. We’re asking nicely but this isn’t optional.” She shot a glance at Papyrus, who was having trouble holding his composure. She motioned for Sans to stand and follow. 

Slowly, still trying to comprehend all that he was hearing, Sans complied. He got to his feet and stepped forwards. Instantly, he noticed his brother relax, releasing a long breath. The idea that Sans wouldn’t need to be taken by force apparently calmed him. Laying a gentle hand around Sans’ shoulder, he was led away from his sentry station. 

The other two Guardsmen kept a close eye on him but equally relaxed at the idea that Sans would be putting up no fight. The blue bear watched on calmly with bright eyes, the monster’s general vibe reminded him of Grillby. The insectoid monster on the other hand continued to eye Sans shiftily. His eyes on stalks swivelled frequently to check on the monsters in his company. The skeleton swore he recognised him from the Judgment Hall, though it was difficult to say. 

As they walked, Sans attempted to gather himself. This felt like a joke gone too far. Of course, he knew Undyne had her suspicions but what concrete evidence did she have?... Other than confirmation that he had been present at both murders… that it had been his magic which had killed both Ms Truffle as well as his old professor. ‘Hundred present match’. 

He had been outside on the night of Ms Truffle’s death, only a few houses down from hers. Had he somehow sleepwalked to hers, busted in the door, cornered her in her living room and roasted her with his blasters somehow in complete silence? Unlikely. Same for Ignis. Sure, he had seen himself on Hotland’s cameras approaching the old man’s home, but that was hours before the explosion which killed him.  
Though in hindsight, from what he remembered, the scorch marks in both houses matched those left behind from the pure energy blasts of his artificial magic attacks.

An uneasy feeling continued to grow within Sans the further they walked. From what he knew, monsters under serious suspicion were generally held in a cell for around a week. If decent evidence came to light, either for or against their case, they could be let out early or held for however long it took to ultimately get a conviction. 

From the very slow gaining of evidence Papyrus had received for the case, Sans guessed he would indeed be locked up for at least a week. So long as no more evidence was found, he would be ok, right?  
Somehow, Sans didn’t think so. They had all the evidence needed to convict him. Regardless of whether or not Sans had memory of his involvement. If a court made him reveal his soul, his thirteen levels of violence would seal his fate. 

Worry welled inside him. The Underground’s holding cells were not well known for their hospitality. Though Sans nor Papyrus had ever needed to visit down the old tunnels, he had heard enough stories from drunk monsters regaling tales of ill treatment at the hands of guards, miserable conditions and odd, possibly insane fellow inmates. As one could appreciate, it was not a place Sans wished to visit anytime soon. 

If a monster was found guilty of a serious crime, they were automatically sent to be evaluated by the Royal Judge, to be decided whether they would live or die. If the Judge spared them, punishment was often, though not excluded to, life imprisoned within the cells of these tunnels; a decision which was made by a small court. Sans could only assume many monsters didn’t last long down here.

Though Undyne seemed to refuse to acknowledge ‘rumours’ most of the time, it was well known that not every member of the guard was as pleasant as the Captain or the Dogi couple. It was often speculated that the nastier members of the guard- if there was no reason to discharge them,- were often sent to work in areas that would keep them out of trouble. Or at least out of the public eye somewhat. The dungeons and holding cells were known for housing some of the more troublesome law keepers of the Underground. 

Sans had met their type once or twice before in the Judgement Hall. Their presence made him apprehensive for Papyrus, of when he would finally achieve his dream. How his brother would get along with folks like that. The idea worried him. 

Zipping his hoody up as far as it would go, a shiver ran down Sans’ spine. He dug his hands deep into his pockets, picking at the bare threads within them in an attempt to distract himself. 

Papyrus, who walked at his side, glanced down. Sans met his eye. Holding each other’s gaze, Sans gave him a reassuring nod, tugging his grin a little higher. His brother nodded in return, his magic resonating a little warmer in returned reassurance. 

Onward they trudged, for what seemed like forever. Sans’ skull whirling with reasons and theories surrounding his predicament. 

At a crossroads in Hotland, a huge ox-like monster in formidable looking armour met and chatted with Undyne and the two separate Guardsmen. Sans recognised him, a good friend of Undyne’s and a high-ranking member of the Guard. He was one of the largest land-dwelling monsters Sans had seen, towering high over both skeletons. The monster glanced down at Sans several times from where he stood talking some distance away. 

While the official Guardsmen broke away to talk, both brothers held back. They stayed in a cooler rocky corner, out of the way of Undyne’s short meeting. Papyrus loosened his scarf, sighing. He looked more worn down than Sans had seen him in some time. 

“You ok, bro?” Sans asked, offering Papyrus as much of a smile as he could muster. 

His brother returned the same sorry look, “I will be.” He said shortly.

“You know I’ll be fine right? Not just a useless bag of bones, me.” He said, tugging at the end of his brother’s scarf in a way which usually provoked at least a smile. “And neither are you, you’ll be ok.” 

Papyrus couldn’t seem to bring himself to even smile. He nodded shortly, “Indeed, we will fight through this.” 

Sans squeezed his brother’s gloved hand. They both waited in silence until Undyne returned. The other two Guards following the massive Hotland leader. The bear turned to give a departing wave to Papyrus, who waved back. The group, now two down, continued to walk in the direction of the Underground’s jail. 

 

Two heavily armoured monsters carrying a spear each, stood either side of a massive set of intricately patterned metal doors. Instantly upon seeing their Captain the two moved aside, turned and stood facing one another. Pointing their spears at each other, sparkling stones on the ends of the weapons resonated with each other. In an impressive display, gems of similar colours began to light around the frame of the grand door. As the arc of light completed, the metal moved on its own, unlatching with a clunk. 

Undyne turned to Papyrus, “If ya’ visit, just state your business. Don’t worry these guys won’t turn you away without proper cause.” She flashed a grin at the Guard on the left who, like his partner was now retracting his spear as the door opened. “Also, they’re big pushovers, ain’t that right, Bruce!” 

‘Bruce’ saluted, stepping back to allow them inside. “Aye, Captain.” They spoke from inside their helmet. 

Papyrus only nodded at his friend’s advice. Sans hoped his brother wasn’t put off by the guards in their full armour, he truly wanted his brother to visit as often as possible. 

The jail, an ancient tunnel system sat in the rocky wall of the cavern, on the edges of the Capital. As the group made their way through the door, two more Guardsmen met them on the other side, closing the door behind them. As it slid into place, the trio began their decent down a sloping path. A smell of damp hit Sans the second the door closed behind them. While the path was narrow in width, it was very tall, stalactites hung from the ceiling. Many small electric lamps guided their way down the tunnel. Some dim, others not working, connected together with dangerous exposed wiring. 

Sans felt like he’d stepped into a time machine. The place looked like it hadn’t been updated since the first settlers moved down the cavern into New Home. Dark, the sound of water droplets pinging onto the damp well-trodden cave floor. 

They passed turn-offs, smaller narrowing passageways, some leading into pure darkness. Rusty signposts gave direction, though many of the passageways they pointed down seemed unused. Sans acutely wondered if the pressing cold sinking into his bones was from his fear alone. A look at Papyrus told him that it was most likely a shared emotion, passed between them and enhanced by their magic. 

Undyne’s fins were pulled close and tight to her. She clearly hated this place as much as the next person. Sans wondered if some of that tension was carried to her from the brothers’ fright. 

The walls of the tunnel were smooth and damp looking. A slight curve to the faintly glinting surface. This was a natural structure, an old river which had ran through the mountain many hundreds, maybe thousands of years before the first monsters arrived inside Mt Ebott. Repurposed from old natural waterways. 

A few minutes walk down the slope revealed a wider area, well-lit and inhabited by other monsters. Something akin to a check-in desk was overseen by a vaguely serpentine monster with tiny stick thin arms which jutted out of his armour. 

Both skeletons stuck to each other like glue as Undyne spoke cheerily to the monsters who stood by. A few more hurried between passageways, carrying papers or pushing clanking trollies. This area seemed to be the central hub for the prison. Sans noticed that not all of the Guards down here were giving Undyne the friendliest of looks. That fact worried Sans more than anything else he’d seen so far. They all wore thick plate armour, many carrying spears or some sort of weapon at their side. Some without helmets, others only with slits in the metal for their eyes to peer out. Though they were of many strange shapes and sized, all carried the same opposing air. 

He took to staring into a small gathering pool of water in the caves wall, calm other than a dripping stalactite above to unsettle the water. Sans took to counting the seconds between drips, in order to occupy his spinning head. 

A light shake to the shoulder roused Sans from his trance-like state. He turned to see that another armour wearing figure was leading the way. Following, they were led down a route marked ‘Short term holding cells A’. The passage continued for longer than Sans expected, various bits of equipment littering the pathway. The lighting down here switched from electricity to torchlight. 

The slope levelled out as cells popped into view. Odd shapes and sizes, clearly built for housing different monster types. Led further in, almost all of the cells were empty. They reached the very end of the corridor passing a few monsters sat in the darkness of their cells. These unknown monsters watched the newcomers pass in silence, cloaked in the darkness of their confinements. 

The group was led around a slight corner where they were met with the end of the tunnel. Two cells here were unoccupied; the Guardsman they followed stopped before the larger of the two. 

With a ‘clunk’, a cell door was propped open. The final one on the row, against the far end of the tunnel. Compared to the ones they passed, this one seemed like a medium sided cell, with standard dark metal bars running floor to ceiling. About half the size of his bedroom. A mattress lay on the floor, thinner than his own. It looked absolutely disgusting. A wooden box which Sans guessed was a makeshift seat was the only other furniture. Not much light illuminated the space, the majority of the cell cast in darkness. Everything looked damp, the far corner of the cell nearest the wall had formed a murky puddle. 

Papyrus blinked, “Um, Is this it?” He asked, in slight disbelief. 

Sans noticed Undyne stare firmly at the ground as her friend’s question was voiced. 

He armoured monster laughed, “Well, I hope you wasn’t expecting Mettaton’s hotel.” He joked in a good-natured way.

Sans gazed in through the open door. Still. Taking in what lay before him. It took a while before he seemed to realise everyone was waiting for him to step inside. A sick feeling churned beneath his ribs. Lightheaded and nauseous. 

Noticing Sans begin to step forward, the armoured monster pulled a contraption from a small bag strapped around his waist. “Ya got a suppressor? No? Then you’ll need this.” He quickly snatched Sans’ hand. Pulling up his sleeve and slid what appeared to be a single wrist cuff onto Sans’ arm. It was fastened sharply, tight enough that he bit back a hiss of discomfort. 

Finally let go of, Sans brought the device closer to his face to examine. A heavy metal, possibly iron, for supressing magic use. Magical gemstones lined the cuff. Contraptions of a similar function were used occasionally in the labs, back in the day. Instantly, Sans found the magic in his body lock up, if that was even possible. He attempted to reach his magic field outwards, it stopped not even a foot away and seemed to spring back, a tingling like static running down his arm from the cuff which gripped tight and uncomfortable. 

“Though we’d forgotten about keeping ya’ magic under check?” The Guard laughed, light hearted and jolly. “Try anything and it can give out quite a shock!” 

Sans was without words, he stepped through the gateway and let the door lock behind him. Tearing his eyes from the device, Sans looked back to his friends, now with bars separating them. The lights in his eyes were only pinpricks. Papyrus now looked even closer to tears than before, his breathing stiff and unsettled. Neither seemed able to tear their eyes from the other. 

Undyne began tugging at Papyrus, encouraging him to move. She seemed to be avoiding looking at Sans however possible. The Guard waited a few paces ahead for Papyrus to be moved. 

Putting on the worst smile he’d ever faked; Sans gave his brother what he hoped was an encouraging look. “S’ok bro, I’ll be ok.” He said feeling stiff, rooted to the spot.

With one last despairing look, Papyrus allowed himself to be led away. Instantly walking quickly to keep pace with the Guardsman, “Y-you must know, my brother has a very w-weak soul, very low HP. He gets s-sick easily and…” The words died in the echoes as the group moved quickly out of earshot. The sound of their footsteps gradually becoming silence. 

 

Sans stood unmoving for a long time. At times his breathing felt hard to control, the corners of his eye sockets were wet, though he didn’t feel like crying. Steadying himself on the bars, the overwhelming weight of the situation crashed upon him. He hoped the currently silent residents of the jail could not hear his frantic breaths. Indeed, his soul beat so hard Sans wondered if it could be heard by the others. 

Eventually, after an unknown amount of time he felt confident enough to pace around, examining the walls, the box and the mattress. Eyes becoming slowly accustomed to the dark. 

There was a figure in the cell next door to his. Upon a larger sitting crate, covered in a blanket. They shivered, the edge of a grey furred tail sticking out. 

“Uh, h-hey there?” Sans tried, his voice quiet and hoarse from his struggling breaths. 

The figure shivered more, whimpering. Otherwise they gave no response. 

He tried once more, “Hey, it’s ok. W-what are you in for?” He tried to ask jokingly, though this received the same response.  
“You ok, buddy?” He asked, walking closer to the bars separating them. 

The whimpering intensified.

Sans backed off. “Sorry, I’ll just…”  
He plopped down on the mattress. It was tough, uncomfortable and rather damp. It smelled strongly of rotten eggs. Though it made him gag, the skeleton found himself too tired to care after today’s ordeal. 

 

Some hours later, Sans’ daydreamy state was broken by a distinctive set of slow lumbering footsteps making their way down his tunnel. The figure under the blanket began shivering once more, more aggressively than when Sans approached. 

The light up ahead caught a large dark shape. Slowly making their way down the corridor of cells was a giant of a monster, just short of the large ox-like beast from the Hotland Guard. They had four arms and were covered head to toe in dark grey plate armour, some parts embedded with the odd magical gemstone and fancy pattern. They peered through small slits in their helmet into the occupied cells. 

Sans sat on his bed, curiosity and apprehension running through him. 

The monster saw him and approached, overlooking the quivering blanket’s cell. Over his initial shock of the place and in a marginally better state of mind, Sans looked up at the monster from his seat, unperturbed by their appearance. 

They loomed close, staring down at him through their helmet. Four beady red eyed met his. “Well hello there, fresh meat.” They rumbled in a deep voice. Barely a glance at the guy’s soul told Sans he was in for a treat.

He chuckled in response, “Won’t find much meat on me.” Sans said, holding the Guard’s gaze, which almost seem to glow red. 

“Doesn’t seem so, does there?” He said with a smiling voice, crossing one set of arms. 

Sans itched at his skull, “I’m new around here, unless you couldn’t tell.” He said, trying not to sound too awkward or give away that he’d hardly been holding himself together only a short while ago. 

He growled what could have been a laugh, “Oh, that’s obvious, don’t you fret.” Something in his tone was ominous, leaving Sans only slightly more on edge than this guy had done already.

“So, uh, what do they call you?” Sans asked, attempting to break the ice. 

“Just Warden will do from you.” He replied shortly.

Sans nodded as if this was a fair answer. “Don’t have to be so _guarded.”_ The skeleton grinned, “So, are you number one boy around here?” He felt stiff but refused to break eye contact. 

The monster, taller than Undyne and wide as a bear, with pure muscle and metal, moved to rebalance himself on his other foot. “You could say something like that.”

Sans hummed, unsurprised, “Been working here long?” 

“Long enough to know what shit like you are up to.”

“Well then.” Sans sighed, finally averting his gaze. 

“You the one who came in with the Captain?” The Warden asked.

Sans nodded, “We’re good friends.” He lied more convincingly than usual.

The huge monster hummed in interest, “Oh really now.” He said in a mock whimsical tone, continuing to stare down at where the skeleton sat for a long moment.  
Sans was about to elaborate that Undyne did indeed choose to spend Gyftmas with his family when the other spoke once more. 

The monster unfolded his arms, “Part of my job is welcoming you to your first on the block.” He rose a hand to the door of Sans’ cell. The monster wore what resembled the magic suppressor around Sans’ wrist. Magic stones embedded along the forearm of the Guard’s armour in an intricate vertical line. A white stone glowed, its power echoed by the lock of the door. With a click, it unlatched. “And for that, we need a little audience participation.” 

Sans was up on his feet in less than a second, unable to hide his flinch as the door swung open. “You gonna give me a guided tour?” He asked uneasily.  
The Warden side stepped through the door, his wide shoulders taking up most of the cell. Sans did his absolute best not to shrink down in immediate submission, his feeling of control totally gone. 

Laughing nervously, he tried another joke, “We gonna go share some peanut butter and _jaily_ sandwiches by candle light?” 

Reaching out with a hand big enough it could have probably sat Sans in it, the skeleton was grabbed by the front of his shirt. He flinched, unable to avoid being yanked backwards into the slimy wall.  
“Not exactly.” The Warden rumbled. 

Suddenly overcome with a desperate need to escape, experimentally he tried summoning an attack. For a second, he thought it would work, the familiar feeling of energy running through him. Where it would have manifested into an attack, instead, the energy seemed to boomerang, sending a jolt straight through his soul. Sans hissed through his teeth in pain, body contorting oddly. It felt like a live wire had jabbed his soul. 

The guard hummed, seemingly humoured by Sans’ failed attempt at fighting back. He watched his captive thrash in his grip, knowing that Sans couldn’t hold his own in a physical fight with any of the Undergrounds’ inhabitants, let alone him. Without magic, he was totally vulnerable. 

“Listen here, funny man, I hear it’s likely that you’ll be spending a lot of time down here with us. From where I see it, I think its best you learn quickly how things work down here.” The monster calmly said, the sound distorted through his helmet.

Sans continued to aggressively squirm, “I haven’t even-.” 

A large armoured hand grabbed onto his exposed spine and lower ribs, lifting Sans into the air like a ragdoll. The feeling of the freezing steel was bad enough without being suspended by some of his most fragile bone structure alone. He growled through his clenched jaw, trying not to give away how much discomfort the tight hold caused him. Every one of his bones felt like they had locked up, freezing in place. 

Sans attempted once more to speak, though the action took several attempts to accomplish. His voice evaporating with his confidence. “Y-ya know you’re fuckin’ with the Royal Judge here.” Sans hissed breathlessly in what had meant to sound intimidating. 

A loud bark of laughter followed. The sadistic joy which flowed from this guy in streams made Sans feel even better about his situation. This monster’s emotion felt like it had claws of its own, digging into Sans’ magic, which remained trapped close to him.  
“You have no idea how often I hear that.” He said with a concealed grin, malicious glee in his red eyes. 

‘Figures.’ Sans thought. He couldn’t say he’d ever found himself in a situation quite like this, in any previous timeline. Who didn’t love a new experience, right?  
Breath struggling in his throat, the cold metal hand gripped hard, just below where his soul sat in his chest. The monster rose Sans to stare him in the eyes at head height. “Stay in line, don’t give us any trouble and I’m sure we’ll get along fine.” 

The hand closed tighter. Just when it felt like his bones were going to give way and snap, the pressure was lifted. It was followed by a feeling of weightlessness before Sans thudded to the ground with a crunch. The Warden stayed to watch his prisoner squirm into a sitting position before wordlessly shuffling back out of the cell. The door swung with a squeak and a clang. 

Red eyes peered down at Sans, cold and pleased. With the hum of a laugh he set off back down the corridor, huge heavy feet lumbering, echoing each step around the tunnel. As he passed, the Warden walloped a fist against the bars of Sans’ neighbour’s cell. The blankets jostled as the inhabitant yelped and shivered. 

The vile monster disappeared out of sight. Sans did not move until he could hear their footsteps no more. 

With shaking hands, he fixed his shirt, zipped up his hoody and slung the hood tightly over his head. Moving the bed into the darkest corner of the cell, Sans flopped down on it with his knees to his chest, the cold cave wall behind his shoulders. He shivered, the feeling of tight cold hands around his spine not yet leaving him. Glaring down at the magic suppressor, the skeleton growled. 

This was happening. Only this morning it had felt like he was making some sort of progress with things. While writing his accounts of previous Resets had reopened a few old wounds he thought healed, it had put into perspective how far he’d come. Over two months of almost total peace, tragedy had of course struck, as it always did. Though it was incredibly minor compared to some of his past experiences. Sans had been reminded of the extra time he’d been blessed with, spent with friends and family. 

Now though, the only sound was the dripping water pattering off rock and puddle, accompanied by his own quiet shaky breath. Sans came to the damning conclusion that everything he’d experienced in his many jumbled lives up to this point, could not prepare him for what was happening now.


	24. Snitches get stitches

The journey home was tiresome and tedious. For once, Papyrus found himself disliking Waterfall’s swampy interior and found the hissing and bubbling sounds of Hotland quite irritating. It had been a long emotion walk and Papyrus was only just re-entering Snowdin hours after leaving. The fake evening hues of the electrical lighting system guided his path home. 

Leaving Sans in that dark, horrid place had been almost unbearable. The thought of that tiny damp cell made the skeleton consider marching right back down to the Hotland jail to stay with his brother. 

Undyne hadn’t been much help. She had advised, on their way back, that Papyrus should refrain from visiting unless it was on ‘Guard business’. In other words, he could only visit if it was to question Sans, or some similar purpose. Along with this, visiting hours were restricted to only a short window per day, the number of visitors was also heavily monitored. 

When they arrived near her house, Undyne had offered him a place to stay the night, happy to keep the skeleton company. He declined her offer and had seen the Captain off with little more than a half-hearted goodbye. Some friend she was.

Now, Papyrus stomped through the boarder between Snowdin and Waterfall as he approached home. It hadn’t snowed for some days now. The crunchy fluff beneath his feet had turned slushy, brown mud showing through the well-trodden road.  
A seasonal change meant it would snow less often, the clouds more likely to bring showers. Nobody in Snowdin was a fan of this short period of change. 

Mind wondering ever back to Sans, it occurred to Papyrus that he would need to break the news of his brother’s imprisonment to Grillby. He considered what the elemental’s reaction to the news might be. Would he be overcome by rage and toast the skeleton alive for allowing Sans to be taken away? Or would he stand there, impassive and uncaring?  
Papyrus had a strong suspicion the latter would be more likely. 

All of Sans’ assurances did not help to quell the worry which pooled in Papyrus’s soul at the thought of this brother’s ‘relationship’. No one knew what to make of it. Not Undyne, not Dogamy nor Dogaressa. Everyone who observed the pair seemed to agree that Sans’ and Grillby’s relationship confused them. 

So far, Papyrus had been overly pleasant with the elemental. Their afternoon lunch with Toriel had been the last instance the pair had interacted. He had happily accepted Grillby’s company- as of course he would do any time they spoke. This didn’t stop Papyrus from disliking the mostly silent monster’s nonchalant approach to life and apparent disregard for those around him.

In Papyrus’s eyes, it was clear Grillby couldn't care less about Sans’ wellbeing. His brother was likely being strung along by the bartender for some unknown means. That was something he would have to question Grillby about, very soon.  
For now, Papyrus concluded he would not inform Grillby about Sans’ state. If the flame monster noticed his ‘friend’ was missing then he could ask. In the meantime, the monster could forget it.

Finally, Papyrus reached his front door and trudged inside. The door was thrown closed with a slam, the sound echoing about the silence which greeted him inside. Tugging off his shoes, which were hurled carelessly at the doormat. A splatter of mud splashed up the wall on impact. 

Sinking down onto their old stained sofa, Papyrus dug the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, defeated. Finally, out of view from the rest of the town, he let himself break down. 

The house felt so very empty. His bones rattled as Papyrus trembled, panicked thoughts consuming him.

Sans wasn’t going to be ok, was he? He was stuck alone in the dark with no friends around him. He was weak and defenceless and trapped down there with _real_ criminals. What if the guards didn’t feed him or let the other inmates bully him? 

When Papyrus accepted responsibility for solving this case, this wasn’t the turn of events he’d envisioned. It was supposed to be fun, different, and win him the respect he deserved… Was it his fault Sans had been taken away? If Papyrus hadn’t been so driven to solve the case then Sans would still be here, right? His brother wouldn’t be leaving the jail unless Papyrus found hard evidence to defend him. Could he do that? What evidence could counter the hundred percent proof that Sans was the killer?  
It was his fault, it was Undyne’s fault and Grillby’s, also.  
Sans wasn’t going to be ok…

A sparkle in the corner of his eye stirred Papyrus from his crying. Wiping his eyes, he noticed something glinting on the doormat. 

With a sniffle, the skeleton approached. It was odd, whatever it was. Something he surprisingly hadn’t noticed upon making his way hurriedly into the house.  
A delicate palm sized object sat by the door. It was shaped like a ladybird or some kind of beetle, with a pattern like flower petals furling from under its wings. The object gave off a faint light, glimmering in greens and yellows.

How very strange and beautiful. His curiosity intense enough to make Papyrus momentarily forget his sadness. Picking it up, the object was warm to the touch. Turning it over in his hand made the colours gleam in iridescent pinks, bottle green and blue. This was a magic construct of some sort. 

“What could you be?” Papyrus croaked, his strained speech giving away his emotionally volatile state. 

As soon as the words were spoken, the sparkling beetle shifted. The wings opened as the beetle silently took to the air in a shimmer. Papyrus stood back as the wings peeled back and what looked like rose petals fluttered out. The bug changing into a stream iridescent flowery residue. 

Papyrus watched on, transfixed as the petals warped as they swam through the air. Once more they transformed letter by letter into writing. Forming sentences in neat cursive, it wrote:

_Papyrus,_  
My greatest regret in disturbing you, especially by such odd means.  
I beg secrecy in regards to this message, for I fear there is someone who wishes harm against me. I must meet with you quickly and discreetly. Please meet me by the first bridge outside town in Snowdin Forest tomorrow morning.  
Stay safe, Honey. 

The words faded into nothing, leaving no trace of the message. Staring at the space left by the magical writing, Papyrus contemplated what he had seen. 

Papyrus knew the large green bug fairly well. The two had spoken on street corners occasionally since the couple had moved in some months previous. She was always pleasant and upbeat, something which her much more timid husband struggled to be. Beansprout was comparatively difficult to converse with. 

Who would want to hurt them, or more specifically, Honey? 

It sparked many questions, none of which the skeleton currently had the capacity to answer. For now, he would get coffee and write down his thoughts. A separate list still needed to be compiled of things to ask Sans, so Papyrus could visit him as soon as possible. 

He hadn’t expected to be sleeping much tonight anyway. Much needed to be considered before tomorrow. 

 

Sans paced back and forth in his cell. He’d been here for less than twenty-four hours now and already he was bored and craving freedom. 

He grumbled to himself, back still aching from the rough treatment the previous evening. Taking his mind off the Warden or the dull ache running up his spine was impossible when there was nothing to do but think. His neighbours didn’t help much either. The general theme here seemed to be silence, other than the occasional whimpering which came from the blanketed figure in the closest cell to Sans’. 

Either there was a rule about no communication or everyone accompanying him was just as fearful as Sans secretly was.  
He could only guess The Warden gave each inmate their own personalised welcome. 

Despite there being a number of other monsters amongst him, there might as well not have been. With their magic fields fastened close to them by the devices each inmate wore, it was impossible to feel anybody nearby. Other than the odd Guard walking by, there was no other magical influence down in these deep tunnels. It was incredibly odd not being able to feel those around him, like one of his senses had been shut off. The loss made this place feel incredibly lonely. 

A Guardsman who Sans did not recognise pushed a trolley noisily down the row of cells. Grit and uneven stone rattled the wheels of the squeaky wooden unit. 

She was around Papyrus’s height, a bird like a stalk or heron with long feathered arms and no wings. The monster wore less armour than the other guards down here, likely due to her tall, stick thin appearance and strange shape. Plate armour would have been difficult to fit around her frame. 

Sans was momentarily excited upon realising she was handing out food from the cart. When the tall bird drew wordlessly near, the skeleton greeted her with a smile, as to be polite. 

The idea of befriending the person with the greatest access to food was a dream soon dashed as the Guard met his eye with a piercing yellow glare. Sans realised she was no better than that four eyed monster last night.  
He retracted his gesture of goodwill by returning the glare.

The food was difficult to describe. It appeared to be porridge, watery and salty. Bits ran through the substance which greatly resembled bird seed. It tasted vile and Sans was relieved that a glass of water accompanied it, to wash the stuff down. 

That had seemed like breakfast, meaning it was morning, right? If so, that at least gave Sans an idea of the time. Most of his night had been spent awake and with only the glowing torches lining the walls for light, it was impossible to tell the time. 

Luckily for Sans, he had a special ability, which enabled him to sleep anywhere, anytime… Accept at night, it became difficult then, for some reason. 

Roughly a few hours later, a commotion stirred Sans awake. A new inmate was being led down the cell block by a lone Guard. They stopped at a smaller cell opposite Sans, who sat up to watch. Hopefully, he’d have someone to talk to. 

A four-legged dog-sized monster was beckoned into the cell. A suppressor around their neck like a collar. The door closed with a _clang_ behind them. 

“Now, behave.” The Guard warned. 

The new monster hummed cheerily in response. They were left to sniff around the edges of their cell. The Guard disappeared around the bend of the tunnel, out of sight. 

Now alone, Sans tried making first contact. “Hey, you ok?” He asked. 

The small monster scampered fully into view, popping out of the darkness. It was grey and white with big eyes and a striped jumper and-.  
Oh jeez, Sans knew their kind. 

“HOI!” The Temmie greeted with excitement. “I’m Tem! Tem in jail todai, so is ewe!” 

“We sure are.” Sans agreed, inwardly sighing.

“Wat iz you in for?” The monster asked, wide catlike smile on their face. 

Sans cringed, suddenly rethinking his wish for companionship, “Murder, I guess?” He said with a shrug. 

“Ooh!” They said, eyes bugging out unnaturally. Their body vibrating as if it was connected to an electrical outlet. “Tem lyke murdeh!”

“Right. What about you?” Sans reluctantly asked. 

Eager to answer they yapped, “Mugging peeples to pay for colleg!” 

“Cool.” Sans said, flopping back onto the mattress. It was hard enough that he might as well be lying on the floor. 

The Temmie continued to ramble, sometimes answering questions nobody had asked. Sans was starting to regret talking to the monster. He lay down and tried his best to block out their chatter. 

It was going to be tough, in here for a week (A week, that was all he hoped it would be). He could manage a week, no matter what happened down here. Regardless of the possible outcomes of this situation, one thought stood out above all others- Papyrus was safe. 

Papyrus was able to cope with things well, he would be upset, especially if Sans wasn’t getting out of here. His brother wouldn’t stay down forever. He was a tough bag of bones. 

Closing his eyes and attempting to drown out the frenzied chatter of his new friend, Sans smiled. Papyrus was safe and that was the only thing which mattered. 

 

Beginning his walk down to their agreed meeting place early, Papyrus made his way through Snowdin town. 

It’d been a restless night, as expected. Mind dwelling on what state Sans might have been in, Papyrus had eventually decided that there was no point trying to sleep any longer. Instead, he began writing. Question, ideas, re-evaluating evidence. How did the case connect to the bug couple and who could want Honey dead? From what Papyrus could see they were not involved at all. Hopefully, this meeting with her would clear a few things up. 

Despite the early hour, most residents were up and busying about the town. Some set up their stores while others began their commute towards Waterfall. 

A wave was returned from Dogaressa and Lesser Dog. She held him by the arm, supporting the long-necked dog as he stumbled. The head injury he had sustained was still giving the dog trouble. 

The bunny family stood at the front of their bakery, a delicious aroma wafting out. They were fussing over their youngest who appeared to be throwing a tantrum against going to school. 

The strange lizard, Goldwell, was greeting a group of monsters of whom Papyrus did not recognise. A banner had been setup behind Goldwell detailing ‘Snowdin Forest Tours’. He was encouraging the group to explore the town before they set off. The skeleton rolled his eyes, that man’s tours were riling up the forest’s inhabitants. Any disturbance was often seen criminal by the of the dwellers, let alone a loud noisy band of people walking through multiple times a day. 

If Papyrus had more time, he would stomp right up to Goldwell and express his opinion of these ‘tours’. There was a note on the bottom of the banner, encouraging people to leave positive reviews on the tours’ Undernet page. Papyrus knew what he would be doing later. 

He caught sight of Honey and her husband picking up groceries. Papyrus made subtle eye contact with the large bug who returned a knowing look in her large round eyes. Both bugs appeared on edge, Honey more than Beansprout. 

With a little nod, the skeleton continued down the pathway towards their meeting place, he would await her arrival there. Keeping their meeting secret. 

Shrubberthree was tending to the flowers outside their house, which overlooked the main street. Shrubberthree? That was their name, right? Shrubtrouble? Shrubadub?  
Cloudnine floated about, the little monster still looking saddened, though nowhere as grief stricken as the last time Papyrus had spoken to them. 

A five-minute walk down the pine tree covered path led Papyrus to the first bridge. It stood in a clearing, right beside an open sheer cliffside. A light rainfall began to speckle the snow, which was thankfully crunchier than the slippery mud in Snowdin Town. Leaning his weight against a large stump which tied the sides of the rope bridge together, he let his thoughts wonder. For what might have been the hundredth time since discovering the message, Papyrus pondered what Honey might say.  
Rain dripped past his scarf and onto his neck, making Papyrus shiver. Pushing a mound of snow from one side to the other with his foot. Around ten minutes passed by slowly. 

Eventually, movement up ahead caught his eye.  
Alone, the large green bug was making her way towards him, her shape brighter than the forest-greens of the plant life surrounding her either side. She set a casual pace, not rushing towards him. 

As she drew closer, Papyrus noticed something rather strange. There was a sway to her walk, as if she’d just woken up. A particularly vacant look set in her eyes. It contrasted the nervousness she gave off only minutes ago. 

He was missing something, surely. Papyrus supposed Honey hadn’t slept too well either. It wasn’t all that uncommon to see Sans doing something similar. 

Closer still she walked, the claws of her feet dragging lazily down the pathway. Papyrus stood tall and gave her a wave. With a big smile, he disregarded the contrasting emotion which swam within him. 

She did not respond. Now much closer, Papyrus could see her eyes looked truly dull and lifeless. In a strange way, he recognised it from Sans and Alphys, it gave off the same energy. Unsure, he called to her in greeting, “Good morning, Ms Honey.” He said, extending a hand, now she was only a short distance away. “May I say what an excellent idea it was to discuss your troubles with I, The Great Dete-,” 

Papyrus stopped mid-sentence as Honey, still holding his gaze veered to the side. Mere feet from him. Was she walking past him or...?

Eye locked with her blank ones and thoughts muddied with confusion, the skeleton barely noticed the direction her feet were leading her. 

_The cliffs edge!_

“W-wait!” Papyrus squeaked, overcome with sudden panic. His bones felt fused, locking him in place. 

Her eyes finally lifted from his as she fully turned to face her grim destination. Only but a step from the edge now. 

Urgency rising through him, Papyrus lurched forwards. 

She stepped off, no hesitation. Nothing. 

His fingers merely grazed the fabric of her dress before Honey was out of reach and falling.  
Stopping with a flash of realisation, Papyrus barely caught himself before he too fell. Landing hard on his knees, as he watched Honey plummet down. 

The drop was huge, though the monster seemed to fall for longer than she should have. As if Papyrus was watching in slow motion. 

With the most gruesome sound imaginable, Honey hit the bottom. So far down it didn’t seem plausible for the sound to carry so perfectly. 

Everything stopped. No wind blew through the trees, no rain was felt. His breath, like his soul sat unmoving in his chest.  
Was she dead? Her body still looked mostly in one piece. 

Time ticked on- or maybe it stopped moving entirely? 

Gradually, she began to dust, slowly, like every cell took its time to savour the moment.

Statue still, the only part of him which seemed to move were his elbow joints quivering as they held him fixed in place. 

There was a sound, approaching from somewhere. A voice… multiple voices? 

Movement beside him and a hand firmly around his upper arm. Someone was tugging him. Sandy yellow scales coaxed him away from the edge. Shocking pink eyes were wide, the monster swearing under his breath over and over. 

Goldwell and his troop had set off for their tour. The small crowd of monsters watched on from the edge of the clearing. Someone shouted words Papyrus didn’t seem to make out, a few of the group turned and began sprinting back towards town. 

Papyrus tried moving back towards the edge. He needed to see her, the reasoning behind the impulse lost on him. 

The monster holding him shook Papyrus by the shoulders. “Hey, hey! C’mon, wake up.” 

Blinking, the skeleton attempted to break out of the mental fog. He met Goldwell’s two largest eyes. 

“That’s good, what happened? She jump?” He asked, jerking his head in the direction of the cliffs edge. 

“Y-yeah.” Papyrus coughed, wiping a hand across his face. Things were starting to come back to him now. The rain had soaked through his clothes, sticking them to his bones. The cold too, was crawling back into him. Faces swimming back into frame, sound less echoed. 

Goldwell said no more. His group was mostly stood around, looking on. 

A new voice burst into the scene, a figure emerging through the crowd. “Please, somethings happened- something n-not-.” Beansprout, wild eyed joined the group at the edge. He looked over, a choked noise bubbling up past his mandibles as his eyes met what was left of his bondmate. 

Goldwell eyed him nervously. 

He turned quickly to Papyrus, “W-what did she say?” He asked, his large orange eyes burning with panic. 

Papyrus slowly focused on him. “Nothing. She just…” 

The bug seized up. Papyrus thought he might unleash some destructive attack, given the emotion which rolled off him in waves. Instead he stood there, still staring hard at Papyrus who stared back.  
“Did she tell _you?_ ” The skeleton asked, hardly finding his voice. 

Beansprout shook his head. “No.” He weakly replied. “She said if I knew, I m-might be targeted.”

Goldwell's gaze slipped to the ground. 

The bug continued his fast-paced speech, shaking his head. “I-I knew s-something was wrong when she left to meet you.” He placed one of his four hands onto his chest, over his soul. “I felt it, the same feeling as when she blacked out in Waterfall. T-then n-n-nothing.” His voice quivered out with a choked gasp leaving his throat.

The sandy lizard between them huffed impatiently, “Couldn’t you tell through your…” He tapped at his own chest, “Soul thing?” 

Beansprout frowned, about dish out some presumably harsh words when another voice sounded from the dirt path. The onlookers parted as Dogaressa pushed her way through them. Stopping to take in the scene, she made her way over to Papyrus. 

Goldwell perked up, “Ah, yes, just the one we need-.”

The dog rose a hand to his snout, indicating for the lizard to stop talking. “What happened, Bones?” She asked, a look of concern on her face. 

Papyrus weakly pointed to the place where Honey’s footprints met the cliffs edge. “She just- just walked off.” He gasped, still trying to get a hold of himself, not wanting to make a scene. He didn’t want to appear being incapable of handling such an event. This was proving rather difficult, especially with the way Goldwell still had a firm hold of Papyrus’s shirt in one of his stubby hands. 

Dogaressa winced at the sight below, moving back quickly. She turned to Beansprout who was wildly fidgeting, pacing back and forth around the clearing. She hesitated, not knowing quite which words to choose. Eventually, watching his movements closely, she quietly proceeded. “I’m so sorry-.”

“She would not have done this!” He countered instantly. Voice scratchy and loud, louder than anyone had heard him speak before. Aggressively, another hand was slammed back over his chest, _“She would not have done this!”_

Dogaressa nodded, holding his fiery orange eyes as they in turn followed her. “Ok. Any idea who might’ve wanted to hurt her?”

Continuing to pace, he shook his head. There was a light buzzing as Beansprout’s long wings flicked about. He walked closer to the edge, peering down once again. In a look, more aggressive than seen before on the bug, he glared at Papyrus, “You had a duty to protect her. This is on you!” 

Papyrus flinched at the hatred the bug gave off in waves. It made the skeleton shrink back. It had been his duty and he had failed miserably. 

The bug’s wings opened outwards, a large pair of single wings, brown and purple with subtle white markings. They buzzed to life as he too leapt from the edge. Descending gradually to safely land beside his wife’s dust.

“Alright…” Dogaressa sighed. Turning to Goldwell, “This your lot?” She asked, pointing to the gathering crowd, “Take them… I don’t care, anywhere but here.” 

Goldwell, who had clearly been enjoying the excitement and the idea of ‘helping’, loudly moved himself and his group on. “Horrible thing, but it’ll sort itself out.” He called to Papyrus before leaving.

The skeleton had barely acknowledged him. 

Eventually, the group were a good distance away, their noise dying. Any townsfolk who had wondered down chasing the commotion had also been firmly directed back to Snowdin by Dogaressa. It left just Papyrus and herself.

Papyrus still knelt in the snow, unsure whether his light-headedness would allow him to stand without stumbling. He was incredibly grateful for her carrying out the tasks he was supposed to accomplish, it was all very embarrassing. “Thank you.” He mumbled, not meeting here eye.

“C’mon” She said, hoisting him up by the arm and holding him steady as Papyrus re-established his balance. “Nothing else to do here, let’s go back to mine. I left Lesser on his own in town, hope he hasn’t gotten up to too much trouble.” 

 

Thankfully, the Dogi household was right beside the large pine treeline, where the town met the forest. They found Lesser Dog stumbling about on their way back, his head flopped to the side as if his neck had been mangled. An appearance which had become a permanent state as of recent.

Papyrus was ushered into an old patchwork armchair and a hot drink pushed into his hands. They were trembling, yet another thing the skeleton was embarrassed about. Dogamy occupied an old shabby sofa opposite him, Lesser Dog sat beside him, drooling from his lopsided head. 

The house was mostly rounded. The main room was small but cozy, soft warm lighting with colourful patchwork running over most surfaces. They must have had a relative who enjoyed sewing. Maybe one of the many family members depicted inside the many photo frames which covered each wall and stood on every hard surface. There were a few photos of the Sentry group. A larger nicely framed one sat above their fireplace. It had been taken a Gyftmas or two ago and featured the Dogi couple, Lesser and Greater Dog, Doggo, Sans and Papyrus in front of the brightly decorated pine in the centre of town, a pleasant evening snowfall around them. All the participants were beaming. All the happy memory did now was fill him with sadness. That same tree was now adorned with ribbons, well wishes, and the belongings of two of the picture’s monsters. A feeling corrupted by this vile affair. What a disaster.

“She just walked off?” Dogamy asked in disbelief, or it would have sounded as so, had his jaw not been mostly missing. 

Nodding, Papyrus stared into the rippling surface of his drink. 

Dogaressa re-entered, her phone in hand. “Undyne’ll be over later.” She sighed. “You want to wait for her here?” She asked Papyrus. 

Papyrus shook his head in reply, “No, thank you.” He said simply. His disappointment in Undyne hadn’t quite quelled enough to see her yet, especially in his current state. She’d never let him in the Royal Guard if she saw him like this. 

“I tried Sans’ phone but it went to voicemail. Any idea where he is?” Dogaressa continued. 

Eyes fixed onto his drink; Papyrus sighed. “He doesn’t have his phone.” 

“Oh, he break it again?” Dogamy chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood. 

“No…” Papyrus took a long pause, the others waiting for him to continue. “He was arrested yesterday. He’s being held in the Hotland jail.” 

_“What?”_ Dogaressa gasped. “What for? Not that stupid hotdog stand?”

Lesser Dog barked. Loud in the confined space. 

“The murders. They found his magic on the crime scenes.” Papyrus explained, not looking at any of his company. “It’s serious, he might not come out.” 

“What?!” Dogamy said this time. “That’s rubbish!”

“He couldn’t… It’s Sans for crying out loud!” Dogaressa said, bewildered. 

“Have they gone mad?!” She said. 

Dogamy, with his distorted voice, answered her, “I bet it was Undyne, she’s never liked him much, has she?” 

“She’s not going to lock him up for no reason. She treats her people well she does, too well- won’t let any of ‘um go.” His wife answered. 

As they continued, Papyrus shook. Perhaps from sitting in the snow for so long outside in soggy clothes? He wished they would stop; the reminder of Sans’ situation was not something he needed right now. They argued back and forth in loud shouty tones. Had he not known the source of the debate, Papyrus would have assumed the couple were having a major dispute. Anyone passing outside would have. It conjured the mental image of his and Sans’ old apartment room in New Home where their neighbours’ screaming rows filtered through the walls late at night while they tried to sleep.  
It used to scare him back then, now he only felt pity. 

“It’s my fault.” The skeleton said quietly. 

The sound stirred the dogs into silence, looking back at him. “What you mean, Bones?” Dogamy asked. 

“I saw her in town, I could have walked with her.”

Dogaressa frowned, “Oh, c’mon, you didn’t know what was-.” 

Papyrus interrupted, “And I saw something wasn’t right, before it happened. If I held her b-back…” He drew in a shaky breath, “And… And I watched her fall. I c-could have used my magic- I could have caught her.” He shook, desperate to not cry. The overwhelming emotion pushed down on him harder. 

“No sweetie, come now, you’re in shock.” Dogaressa knelt beside him. 

Her encouragement didn’t much help. Shock or no shock he could have reacted. Had more than enough time to. Any other string of decisions than the ones he made today would have saved her. Grabbing her out of the air would have been easy, he’d had enough practice with Undyne. 

Beansprout had been correct, he had failed her. This one was indeed on him. 

A wet tongue rolling slowly against his skull made him stir. Papyrus looked up from his thoughts to see Lesser had approached without his knowledge. Lowering his drink to the floor, the skeleton pulled the dog into a hug, gently stroking his white fur. 

Dogaressa sat on the arm of Papyrus’s chair, a hand on his back. “Please don’t blame ya’self.” She said gently, almost whispering. “I’d be a right mess if I’d seen that.”  
“B-but if I-.” Papyrus cut himself off as he choked back a sob. 

Lesser Dog rested his head on the skeleton’s shoulder, whining softly. 

Dogaressa continued in the same soft voice, “Remember when we were fighting that horrible Egg? Remember how useless I was, getting upset over what he was doing to our pack? One thing bothered me more than losing them,- I thought that maybe, if I hadn’t broken down so quickly I could have saved Doggo.” 

“T-that’s s-silly.” Papyrus answered, voice uneven. He would never have conceived such a thought about her.

“See.” Dogamy said, though Papyrus didn’t quite understand the context of the statement. 

His wife carried on with her thought, a hand squeezing Papyrus’s shoulder. “And there you were, fighting hard and trying to rally us up, even though I thought we’d been beat.” 

Papyrus didn’t feel like he’d made an impact. He managed to pull himself together for the latter half of the fight but nothing he had done amounted to anything, especially when Grillby had appeared. Papyrus knew that had the elemental not stepped in, their whole group may not have been standing. Really, they _had_ been beat; a civilian had won the fight for them. 

As if sensing that her approach wasn’t working, Dogaressa nudged her friend over, squeezing onto the chair beside Papyrus. “Who’s the one who keeps us Sentries motivated, even though we should have disbanded when the Queen returned? Who’s the one befriending wendigos and all those other lovelies in the forest? Who’s the daft skeleton I once saw disarm Undyne, of all people?” She squeezed his side. “What I’m saying is, you can be as strong as you like but that won’t make you invincible and you can’t save everyone.” A furred hand tapped the centre of his chest. “Unless you’re completely heartless, some things will always get you there.” 

Though he seemed intent on wallowing in his self-hatred for a while longer, the truth of her words broke through the darkness, if not completely. It was rather nice that someone had noticed how hard he’d been trying. It didn’t often feel like those around him took notice. 

Accepting their comfort, Papyrus huddled up with the dogs for a while longer. 

 

Not long after, Papyrus trudged home. The news had spread throughout the town and people were giving him odd glances. Some whispered to their companions as they eyed him walking by. One small member of the bunny’s family hopped closer, they opened their mouth to speak but snapped it shut quick and backed off. There was no part of Papyrus which wanted to discuss this. His magic must have conveyed as such. 

He had every intention of locking his front door and retreating up to his bedroom. Maybe hiding from the world under his covers for a while, that sounded good. As long as he would be away from Undyne when she came calling. The Captain was another issue he refused to deal with this afternoon. 

He needed to work on the case, no distractions. That was his excuse. 

Could today’s events prove Sans’ innocence? Maybe, if he worked an angle to persuade Undyne. 

Checking the letterbox whenever passing the door was something so heavily ingrained in the skeleton that he peered inside even now. Today, it yielded interesting results. Resting atop of some junk mail sat a folded scrap of paper. 

Written in messy block capitals it read,

DEAR DETECTIVE,  
KEEP POKING AROUND WHERE YOU DON’T BELONG AND YOU’LL FIND YOURSELF OR YOUR BROTHER MEETING THE SAME END AS HER.

In his current state, the message didn’t shock him half as much as it should have. 

Papyrus sighed, a shiver running up his spine. Tears threatened to bubble over once more. Locking the door behind him with a click, the skeleton strode to his evidence wall, tacking the note along with the rest of his scribbles. 

It was fine. Not like he was going to sleep tonight either. 

 

A/n:  
That moment when you're trying to write an emotionally compelling scene but one of the characters is called 'Beansprout'. Probably should have spent more than 5 seconds on that one. Gonna go make a midnight stir fry because I've lost control of my life.  
Thanks as always!  
-Me


	25. Hard love

The following morning was grey and dreary. A light patter of rain tapped at the windows of the skeleton’s house. The TV played quietly for background noise. Something to not make the house feel so empty.

Papyrus lumbered around the kitchen, a fresh cup of strong coffee in hand. He looked for a new means to distract himself while he drank it. The house felt very lonely on his own. Normally Sans wouldn’t wake for a few more hours and even then, they wouldn’t often see much of each other during the daytime, both working and Sans choosing to spend his evenings at Grillby’s. This was different though, knowing the other wouldn’t come lumbering downstairs in a half-asleep state. Unless Papyrus could figure out these clues, he wouldn’t be seeing much of Sans at all.

So, he had spent the night puzzling over his notes, reading and rereading and re-rereading everything in the case so far. It couldn’t be his brother. It just couldn’t!  
If it had been Sans who Honey was fearful of, she would have met with Undyne. Papyrus was too close, there would be a risk which someone who feared for their life would have considered. 

Beansprout said he experienced something off, too. He had known something was wrong through their soul connection. That glazed look on the bug’s face before she jumped... Had she been infected or attacked by something? 

The biggest clue was the threat he received, against both himself and his brother. If this was from the perpetrator, which seemed highly likely, did they know of Sans’ imprisonment? Was he dealing with a group of people? Had Sans somehow mixed with the wrong crowd, or a less than friendly individual? That idea was possible, considering how secretive Sans could be. 

His thoughts, whenever considering these ideas returned to one monster in particular- Grillby.

 _He knew something._ Papyrus was damn sure of it.

A tap on the door startled the sleep deprived skeleton. With a loud gasp, he nearly dropped his coffee. The drink spilled down his shirt, which would probably stain. Annoyed, Papyrus shoved the mug down onto the nearest surface with a _clank._

The door was flung open and.- “Mettaton?!” Papyrus said in shock. 

“Good morning, darling!” The robot greeted with an obnoxious smile and flutter of his eyelashes. He stood holding a microphone. A large colourful umbrella over his head. 

It took Papyrus a minute to realise it wasn’t Mettaton holding the umbrella, but one of his assistants. Both helpers scurried carrying heavy equipment, which they desperately tried to keep dry, whilst keeping their boss dry simultaneously. 

The skeleton just stood blinking in the doorway, his mind unable to process what was happening at its normal speed. 

Mettaton moved into better frame for the camera, posing as if having a natural conversation with Papyrus, who stood awkwardly under the doorframe covered in a large wet coffee stain running down his uniform. “Would you mind introducing yourself for the camera, dear?” 

“Um, ok… Papyrus, leader of the Snowdin Sentries and I do detective stuff, I guess.” He said in nowhere near his usual excitement. The idea of Mettaton arriving on his doorstep, looking for him, instilled none of the excitement it should have. Maybe he should have at least taken a nap last night. 

“Wonderful! Well, Papyrus, I spoke to you some time ago regarding your investigation. How is that going? Any progress?” 

The mic was shoved into his face. Papyrus flinched back from it. “Oh, absolutely, yes, indeed. Much progress!” He tried to sound enthusiastic. 

“And surely you’ve made some arrests yet?” The robot star asked.

“We have.” He nodded, reluctantly. 

Mettaton gasped, dramatically posing in shock. “Oh my! Who might that be? Hmm?” 

Visibly shaken by the question, the skeleton defensively stilled. “I-I can’t give out a name, that information is confidential.” He stated. 

With a mild look of annoyance, Mettaton nodded and continued. “Are the rumours true regarding the ghastly suicide which occurred yesterday morning just outside of Snowdin Town? I believe you were present, were you not?” 

Thinking of an answer fast, Papyrus tried to ignore how the air stilled in his ribcage. “That is, unfortunately true. My thoughts are with her family, w-we’re trying our best to figure things out.” He said, trying to diffuse the questions without giving anything away, like Undyne had advised him a while back.

“So, you think there may be more to the situation, if it is worth investigating?” Mettaton jumped on his answer, digging into anything that could make a story. 

Possibly due to his tiredness, this prying aggravated Papyrus much more than it normally would. The wound was still too fresh for all this prodding. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you anymore. This situation is of no concern to the media.” Papyrus said firmly.

“I’d disagree with that.” Mettaton replied in a condescending tone, “The public have a right to be kept informed of-.” 

“And her family have a right to privacy!” Papyrus snapped, “I’d prefer their loss to not be made a sceptical for people to gawk at. They have your TV shows for that.”

Mettaton held his eye for an extra second after Papyrus had finished speaking. Turning back to the camera, with a smile he closed off the newscast, “Well, thank you for your input, Papyrus, I’m sure we’ll catch up with your investigation soon.” 

The cameras were lowered and equipment shifted. The umbrella was now shaking, being only supported by a single arm of the small assistant. 

“Will that be all?” Papyrus huffed, ready to lock himself away once more. 

“Indeed. Though last time we spoke, Papyrus, I thought… I thought I saw a spark of charisma, the makings of a showman, the kind of a star.” It was spoken bitterly, now off camera. Mettaton was clearly as exasperated as Papyrus. “I thought you were a true fan.” 

The words struck at him. In retaliation, the skeleton spoke quickly, “I don’t mean to make your job harder, but I would hope a ‘true fan’ would have some respect for the dead.” With that, he shut his door. 

Walking back into the kitchen to remake his coffee, Papyrus’s head hurt. Dismissing Mettaton as best he could, the task for today would be visiting Sans. During the night, he had come up with a list of questions for his brother. Many of them were a little unnecessary, as he thought over them once more. He’d probably need only a few to hopefully get the truth. Of course, Sans had no reason not to tell him the truth now. 

He’d finish his drink, slap his stained shirt in the washer and begin the long walk down to the Hotland jail.

 

Zip up. Zip down. Zip up. Zip Down. 

The fastening of his hoody was getting its exercise today. As Sans stared aimlessly into the tunnel wall in front of him, he focused on the repetitive motion. 

Zip up. Zip down. 

This was his third day in prison. His second full day, at least. Sans had imagined him and the rest of the inmates would be led elsewhere to eat or maybe socialise but that looked to be a false assumption. Solitude in the dark, nobody to talk to. Apart from the Temmy opposite, of course, though he’d rather not bother.

Sans’ eyes had gotten accustomed to the darkness now. The flame torch on the wall closest seemed as bright as the fake sun which shone from New Home. It made him consider what the first settlers must have felt as they scoped out the caves they had recently been trapped within. 

His contained magic made everything worse. It was like having one’s hands tied behind their back, physically restraining a key part of movement and expression. It felt debilitating and instilled a sense of defencelessness- something which had often troubled him in the past. Thankfully not a feeling which bugged him much in later years, having the benefit of artificial magic at his side and good magical strength to begin with.  
Still, the feeling of having his only defence taken from him made his soul feel jumpy. His hands would shake and he’d need to get up and pace the cell until the spiralling thoughts were forgotten.

It was cold too. A different cold to Snowdin’s chilly air. His clothes were damp from the conditions in the cell. A large puddle occupied a quarter of his small cell. His shoes were soggy from accidently misjudging its width. With his cell being in the corner at the end of the row and tunnel, the water ran down and pooled in his cell. Fantastic.  
The rest of his clothes were damp, too. ‘Wet’ was a theme carried on by everything in this place, it appeared. His mattress, being on the floor, was more than damp. Falling droplets provided some sound as they ceaselessly fell from the cave roof.

Though his species were environmentally hardy and quite resilient to the cold, the perpetual freezing damp was sunk into his every bone. It wasn’t something Sans could just warm himself from. He dreamed about curling up in front of the fire, wearing that stupid snug cow suit. 

Zip up. Zip Down.

He’d felt hopelessly bored before, repeating timelines would do that. This was deeper, no distractions, nothing to occupy him. It was like the air itself was eating away at him. There wasn’t anything to take his mind off the feeling.

Any distraction was a good one. 

Zip up. Zip down-.

One thing had happened today, so far. Aside from another five star ‘porridge?’ breakfast, the Temmie had received some visitors. A whole gaggle of them had skittered in, apparently knowing their way. They had all excitedly chattered, talking over each other incomprehensively in the same shrill voice. 

Eventually, they were ushered out by a very disgruntled guard, who seemed to have dealt with their kind before. The same one who had led Temmie to their cell yesterday. 

After their friends left, the Temmie began sniffing around their cell, like they had done the previous day upon moving in. Sans watched on curiously. 

A short while later the Temmie had called loudly over, “Hoi ther! Wats yor name?” 

Sans had startled at the sudden unexpected noise. “…Uh. Sans?” He replied, unsure. 

“I’m Tem!” They announced. “Wha did ewe do?” 

Feeling lost, Sans frowned in confusion, “You mean what did I do to end up here?”

Temmie aggressively nodded their head. 

“Didn’t we have this conversation yesterday?” 

“Nope!” They yapped. 

Sans shrugged, playing along, “No reason. They got the wrong guy.”

“Tem is here fore dwug deeling!” They beamed up at him. “Wanna no haw I gots busted?!” 

“Not really.” Sans sighed, the monsters piercing voice grating his senses. 

“Iz cool storie!” 

“Still don’t care.” 

That was odd, to say the least. The Temmie had continued to excitedly squeal a long tale at him, barely any of it understandable. Sans was quite relieved when a guard yelled from further up the tunnel, demanding silence. They were quiet after that. 

Which left him where he was now, fidgeting on his upturned crate chair. 

Just as Sans decided it was worth going back to sleep for a while to pass the time, some more chatter filtered down from the tunnel entrance. The sound echoed down, distorting the noise as it bounced around the walls. It was approaching, sets of heavy footsteps. The corridor curved at a point which he couldn’t see more than a few cells in front, his anticipation growing as the clanging footsteps drew closer. The blanketed figure in the cell beside him began shivering, as they seemed to whenever a potential threat approached. 

Two Guardsmen came into view and stopped before Sans’ cell. The skeleton jumped to his feet, eyeing the masked faces curiously. 

“Eye, you’re a little one, aren’t ya? Didn’t know they were sending kids down here too.” One of them chuckled.

“You’re needed.” The other simply said once his friend’s joking was over. The door to Sans’ cell was unlocked with a similar white stone to what The Warden had used.

“Needed?” Sans questioned. 

They hummed in agreement, not elaborating like Sans had hoped they would. Door open, he made his way through. The joking Guard snatched up his shoulder in a grip far tighter than necessary. Doing his best to ignore the discomfort, Sans allowed himself to be led away.

Through winding tunnels they travelled, moving through the main hub area he had checked in at two days prior. They passed a different set of tunnels into a corridor which appeared marginally better furnished that those he had seen so far. There they passed another inmate being escorted about by his own pair of Guards. They also passed a tall multi-armed monster in a shabby business suit. They looked down at Sans over their glasses like he was some vile animal. 

Sans’ nerves continued to rise as they continued to traverse these corridors and side rooms. Proper lighting lit their path, instead of torchlight. The rooms had actual doors. Metal with proper labels adorning them. The implications of many of them made Sans shudder. 

Eventually, after what felt like a long walk, the group stopped at a door marked ‘IR2’. Rusted at the edges, Sans was pushed through. A metal bench in the centre, it was lit with a sharp electric light not strong enough to kill the darkness from every corner, something which seemed to be a theme in this place. Sans rolled his shoulder, getting the tight feeling of the grip out of it.

“We’ll be outside, so don’t make trouble.” The Guard grumbled in a bored dull voice before slamming the door behind him. 

“Sans!” 

A familiar voice made his spin around. “Papyrus!” Sans called with joy. 

Papyrus stood from his own bench on the opposite side of the room and approached Sans. Unlike Sans’ his brother’s side of the room was larger and included a table. Each side was separated with thick bars. 

Both just looked each other over, not knowing quite what to say. Papyrus approached the bars keeping them apart and Sans could feel the concern and relief flowing from him. Papyrus himself looked… tired. He carried an air of dishevelment not normally associated with the taller skeleton. 

“You been ok, bro? Haven’t been too bonely without me?” Sans grinned. He realised with a shock that he’d gone over twenty-four hours without making a pun. What horror! He’d have to make up for that. 

Papyrus gave a weak laugh. “I dare say I have rather missed your company.” He sounded off, too. “Are you well, Sans? You look cold, have they been feeding you well?”  
Sans made a gesture for his brother to calm. “I’m fine, really. Hospitality is lacking, I gotta say. I won’t be leaving a five-star review.” He joked, “Starting to miss your pasta, too.” 

His brother’s face fell, “That bad, huh?”

Now Sans knew something was wrong. He glanced down as discreetly as possible to his brother’s soul. Something he disliked to do, it felt like an invasion of privacy... Not that Papyrus knew he was being checked. It shone duller than usual, like a mist of emotion was covering it. Sans didn’t stare for long enough to identify what.  
“You sure you’re ok, bro?” 

Papyrus stuttered to life from where he’d been staring blankly at his brother. His trusty notebook was pulled out of his pocket along with a pen. The book was grubby, crumpled and running out of pages. Sans made a mental note to get replace it when he was out of here. With two long strides, Papyrus took a seat on the bench at his side of the room. “I have some questions for you, if you wouldn’t mind answering.” He deflected. 

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Sans moved back, also taking a seat. They seemed suddenly very far apart. 

Papyrus spoke quick and purposefully. “So, evidence insists that you were at Ms Truffle’s house when she died. Why?” 

“I already told you, I was with Grillby.” Sans shrugged.

“No, not all night. It still doesn’t change the fact that someone saw you and one other person outside around the time of the murder.” Papyrus shot back.

“Well I didn’t see anyone else. Grillby walked me back home, that’s all.” He lied. 

Papyrus appeared to see straight through it, he frowned down at Sans. “It was the middle of the night, do you not think Grillby would be the most identifiable monster there? People would have known if it had been him.”

“I dunno then, bro.” Sans said, trying his usual tactic of dismissing the accusations against him in a way which often made Papyrus loose interest, allowing him to escape. 

This time escape wasn’t an option, nor was his brother backing down. “I am no fool, Sans. What has been going on?”

Sans shook his head innocently, “Nothing’s been going on-.” 

**“Then stop lying!”**

On reflex, Sans tried to find an excuse, “I’m not-.” He was cut off again.

“I’M NOT STUPID!” Papyrus shouted back. “Do you understand how serious this is? Your magic killed those people. This is an undeniable fact. You’ve been lying, hiding evidence and been seen at both murder locations. Please, Sans, I’m trying to fight your corner, but to defend you I _need_ to believe that you are innocent. And you are making that very difficult.” He said, in the closest thing to a genuine threat Sans had ever heard from his brother. 

Sans watched on in shock, the raw emotion in Papyrus’s words gave him pause. He should tell his brother the truth, but the truth was even stranger than whatever narrative had been allowed to grow over the course of the investigation. 

Seeing the struggle in Sans’ eyes, Papyrus continued. “Please, Sans. You know they execute people for crimes like this? Your best outcome would be getting locked up down here for a long long time- if not permanently. And I don’t think that’d be much of an ‘outcome’ at all, if you catch my drift.” The end was said with a bite to it.  
Of course, Papyrus was right, on all accounts. If he was imprisoned here permanently, Sans couldn’t imagine surviving for too long. He’d meet his end one way or another. 

Reluctantly, Sans met his brother’s eye. “I didn’t see Grillby at all that night.” 

“W-wait, you didn’t?” Papyrus asked.

“No, I… Um, this sounds stupid but… I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk around town. Debated going to see Grillby but didn’t wanna wake him. Ended up falling asleep on the bench by our house. Woke up just before you and went home. Didn’t turn around to see the old lady’s house and didn’t see anyone else around.” He said truthfully, leaving nothing that he could remember out. 

It was Papyrus’s turn to frown in confusion. He seemed to want to believe the other skeleton but was still fighting the strangeness of his explanation. “I know it’s crazy. Sorry I lied. The whole thing was a little… embarrassing.” Sans added, for good measure. 

“A-are you sure?” Papyrus asked, starting to make notes. “That makes even less sense.” He sounded sceptical but hopeful none the less. 

“Can’t remember anything else. Maybe a weird dream, but that’s not exactually unusual.” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t sleep walk, defiantly don’t normally sleep kill. I think we’d have picked up on that at some point.” 

Papyrus moved on, “What about Ignis?” 

Sans rested his elbows on his knees, holding Papyrus’s gaze. “I’ve been truthful the whole time about that. I took Alphys home and went for a walk around Hotland. I don’t remember much of that party at all, not sure how much I drank.” He joked, “Blanked out and woke up in bed. I don’t remember getting home.” The memory sparked a thought. He hadn’t put two and two together at the time but the experience Honey had recounted at the bar was almost identical to his own. He’d have to tell Papyrus after the questions were over. 

Papyrus rested his head in his hands, “What about the Hotland cameras?” 

“When I checked the cameras, I hadn’t exactly expected to see myself on the video. I left it out of my notes because I knew the evidence was already against me.” He admitted. Now that it was coming out, telling the truth wasn’t quite as painful as Sans assumed it would be. It was actually quite refreshing. “I had no reason to dislike Ms Truffle, she always seemed like a nice lady and Ignis was awesome. He was a great teacher and more importantly, put up with my jokes. I wish I’d kept in touch with him.” 

Holding Sans’ gaze for a long few moments, Papyrus eventually spoke. “I want to believe you.” He sounded defeated. 

Sans grinned in what he hoped was an encouraging way. “Well, ya more than welcome, because it’s the truth.” 

It didn’t seem to work as Papyrus fought off his exhausted appearance and steeled himself as he flipped back to his questions. “Are you involved with any unsavoury monsters, Sans? I know you’ve gotten involved with, lets say, questionable deeds and people before.” 

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle, “Ok, ok. I can’t deny that, but no. I’d defiantly know if that was going on.” 

Papyrus didn’t seem to appreciate the humour Sans found in his question. “What about Grillby? Is he forcing you to do anything you’ve been keeping secret?” 

Another accusation against Grillby? Now this made Sans want to laugh. While he held it back, it was very obvious what he thought of the question. “You don’t like him much, do you, bro?” 

“I don’t believe that was my question.” Papyrus hissed. His agitation visible. “Because if someone is making you hurt people, then I want to know, because _none_ of this evidence is adding up.” 

Sans was taken aback by how serious Papyrus was. “No. Nothing like that. ‘Specially not Grillbz, he’s one of the coolest monsters I know… Well maybe ‘coolest’ isn’t the word for it.” He trailed off, hoping to get the ridiculousness of what Papyrus was suggesting out of the way. 

The tall skeleton’s head fell back into his hands, rubbing over his eye sockets. Sans shuffled forwards on his seat. “You sure you’re ok, Pap?” 

He peered over his hands, avoiding the question again with his own. “What happened to you, Sans? You used to be so… different.” It was said so much quieter, more vulnerable than any of the previously aggressive queries.

Not expecting that, Sans hesitated. “…Bit direct, don’t you think.” He grinned, hoping his brother would move on. When he didn’t, Sans shrugged uncomfortably, “Well, people change, don’t they? That’s like asking why the grass grows, it’s just life.” 

“No.” Papyrus said firmly back, switching his sadness out once more for anger. “There’s an explanation for those things, but try as I might, I can’t figure how you went from being the happy brother who used to love his job and watch the stars with me, to a mess who drinks too much and can’t get out of bed!” 

The words hit him like a blow to the chest, the air physically knocked out of him. Sans couldn’t reply. He sat on the freezing metal bench, eyes falling to stare at the floor. 

Papyrus spoke again after a while of silence. “The Sans I knew had ambitions; knew he could be better than the problems we faced. No one dared to call him a runt because he surpassed w-what was expected of a low HP monster, even if he was sick a lot. T-the Sans I knew was going trying to save everyone.” He choked, failing to hold back his emotion.

Sans refused to look up from the floor. Nothing Papyrus spoke of felt like his life anymore. It was such a long time ago, many years in real time, but what might have been a lifetime to Sans. Papyrus was right in separating him from his old self, they were very much two different people. 

He only felt bitterness towards the old Sans. The one who had played jokes on the other scientists with Alphys, or created a new culinary disaster each week with Papyrus because it was fun. 

Fun. He’d stopped having that soon after the Resets began and he reverted to going through the daily motions almost instinctually. Replicating joy with whatever stupid things 

What really was his life now? Did it really have meaning? He was neither happy nor wholly content with what had become of him. There was Papyrus. Sans could safely say his brother held the most meaning to him. Watching him succeed was all the enjoyment he needed, right?

There had been a thought that he had beaten the anomalies. He had outstayed them, still here while they were not. There had been many times that he had evaded death from them (of course, plenty he had not, in Flowey’s case), and each time he had counted as a win.  
In the end, that wasn’t really true though, was it? 

His soul felt heavy. If it carried physical weight, Sans was sure it would have dropped out of him by now. 

They had been silent for a while. Sans could hear his brother sniffling on the other side of the room. 

“I’m sorry.” Sans ground out, his words feeling like gravel in his throat… He couldn’t think of any other words. “I’m sorry.” He repeated, his voice even weaker this time.  
Papyrus was crying now, Sans knew that much. He refused to do so himself, though it didn’t mean his body would obey him. 

Eyes finally leaving the dusty grey floor, they fell on Papyrus. He was a mess, watery eyed and dishevelled. The sight was enough to break Sans, who stood and moved over to the bars. “C’mon, bro.” Sans beckoned him over.

Papyrus rose from his seat instantly. They both settled on the cold ground in front of the bars, huddling as close to them as possible. Sans held back tears of his own. Maybe it was the idea of being the tough older brother who refused to be emotionally impacted? It was silly but Sans decided he wasn’t going to cry and that was that.  
“Hey, hey. What’s the matter, ya not t-that upset about me just being gone for a few days, right?” Sans asked gently. There wasn’t a huge amount of space between the bars but there proved to be enough get one of his arms through. The suppressor on his other wrist was annoyingly too big and clunky to pass through. Papyrus clung to as much of Sans as he could reach. 

Papyrus weakly laughed in response, “More t-than you might e-expect.” 

There were waves of despair and desperation in Papyrus’s magic, the kind Sans had never seen from his brother. It felt horribly wrong. What felt wrong more so, was not having the ability to comfort him with his own magic. Sans tried desperately to reach out, to no avail. Instead they made do with clutching onto one another.  
When Papyrus had calmed ever so slightly, Sans finally asked, “Everything been alright bro? It’s not just this, is it?” He gestured to their surroundings. 

Shaking his head, Papyrus shuddered. He proceeded to explain the events of the last two days. From his annoyance with Undyne, the magical message he received upon returning home, the meeting with Honey and her subsequent ‘suicide’. The threatening memo addressed to both skeletons and Mettaton’s unfortunate interview. Sans was quiet, trying to absorb the information. He couldn’t believe it. No wonder Papyrus was in such a state. Sans worried whether his brother was equipped to deal with something like this. 

When he was sure the information dump was over, Sans finally gave his thoughts. “I’m sorry, I wish I’d been there.” Papyrus waved him off as he wiped away a fresh set of tears. “Don’t worry about Undyne, I don’t blame her. She’s just doing her job. You know that right?” 

“But she-.” Papyrus cut himself off with a sob. 

“Please don’t blame her. She’s ya best friend.” Sans encouraged quietly. “There was something you said earlier that made me remember a thing Honey said. Night before I ended up in here, a group of us were talking. She said she blacked out in Waterfall trying to find help and woke up in Hotland a while later with no memory of getting there. We all started throwing ideas around and, well, I think she remembered something. Beansprout had known there was something wrong, he felt it in their connection.” 

Papyrus nodded, “He said he felt the same thing as before, so came running.” 

“I didn’t realise this when she said so originally, but what she described was the same as what happened to me, I think, on Gyftmas night… How much _did_ I drink?” He cringed, struggling to recall a single detail about the party.

“Not much at all.” Papyrus sniffed, looking interested whilst trying to calm himself. 

There was something to consider here. That had been a shared experience, both which led to monsters dying. Sans recalled what Alphys had shown him, the strange video of the dark gash in the wall. Shrubberthree’s, Alphys’ and Papyrus’s forgetfulness. Was this a common occurrence? Surely not. Sans decided to leave out that latter thought to Papyrus, he was dealing with enough. 

“I c-could have s-saved her.” Papyrus whimpered, shaking Sans from his thoughts. 

Scrunching up to the bars as best he could, Sans wrapped his arm around Papyrus in the closest thing he could to a hug. It wasn’t really effective but the attempt did not go unnoticed, Papyrus leaned into the touch. “Don’t say that. No one knows what’s gonna go wrong. Horrible things happen sometimes that we can’t do anything about them. You can’t save everyone.” 

“I would if I c-could.” 

Sans chuckled, “Sure you would.” He said proudly, adoring the golden hearted nature of his brother. 

“Do you feel safe to stay at home?” Sans asked, stressing the importance of the question with a light squeeze to the Papyrus’s arm.

The skeleton hesitated but nodded.

“I think you should stay with Undyne. Alphys wouldn’t mind either, or the dogs. Heck, I know you don’t like him, but Grillby wouldn’t say no.” Sans suggested. The response was warm until his final idea, which sent a stab of dislike through Papyrus’s magic. 

“I’ll be fine.” He replied simply. 

They sat on the floor a while longer. Asking and rechecking that each other were ok. Both reassuring the other with half smiles and whispers. Papyrus toyed with the suppressor on Sans wrist, prodding at the strange runes and stones adorning it. 

“I-I wouldn’t mess with that, bro. It doesn’t like to be poked around.” He had hoped to sound joking but the words came out more nervous than anything. He had discovered yesterday that the suppressor gave a hearty zap if one probed about it enough. 

“I hate it.” Papyrus sighed, glaring at the thing. “We’re touching and I still can’t feel you.” 

When Sans kept quiet, his brother continued, “I can’t stay much longer. We were only supposed to talk for a short while. No one’s come to check on us though.” 

Sans nodded. “When will I next see you?”

“When I can find an excuse to come. Apparently, I can only visit if I have reason.” Papyrus sounded annoyed by this. Sans didn’t blame him but wasn’t entirely surprised. Of course there were stupid rules like that.

No longer tearful, Papyrus gave Sans a more serious look. “Please, I want to believe you. I want this to be ok.” 

Sans tried to smile, “Well, I can’t give you much more than my word.” 

Papyrus stilled at this and shook his head, clearly, his word wasn’t enough. “Sans.” His brother whispered, “Please, I-I know it’s a lot to ask but… Show me your soul, prove you aren’t lying.” 

“I can’t.” He replied apologetically, regret filling his voice. He wished he could. 

“Please. Why not?” It was asked louder, more forceful this time. 

Sans shook his head, wishing he could. “I just… You’d hate it.” 

“I wouldn’t, I don’t care.” Papyrus begged, as if this would make all the difference. 

Sans kept a grip on his brother’s hand and refused to meet his eye. Guilt filling him. 

In a quick movement and flash of blue light, Papyrus had pulled his own soul into view, where it hovered between them. At the shock of this, Sans flinched back, away from the shining lifeforce. “Woa, Pap, d-don’t-.”

“No.” Papyrus snapped back, his anger from his earlier question time returning. His desperation at needing some clear answers from Sans peaking once more. “Look, I’m doing it, now your turn.” 

Sans shrunk down under his brother’s steely gaze. “I can’t. Just let me talk to Undyne-.” 

“Please!” 

Sans shuffled away.

“I NEED TO KNOW!” 

The emotion welled up stronger and faster than before, the breath trapped in Sans’ chest. He’d often used small lies to protect Papyrus; had they ended up obscuring his brother’s view of him enough that his brother couldn’t take anything he said at face value? “I can’t.” 

The soul was slammed back into Papyrus’s chest with enough force that Sans winced. The other didn’t seem to care however, as Papyrus quickly jumped to his feet and snatched his notepad from the table. “Well, if you can’t trust even me, then I’m not sure how you expect me to trust you. And if I can’t do that then I don’t think there is much I can do in the way of helping.” Papyrus said, straightening his clothes. He walked straight for the door. 

“Papyrus, w-wait. I just can’t, I-I’m-.” He desperately jumped to his feet. 

The door was swung open with a piercing squeak. “Goodbye, brother.” His words were cold. A loud echo bounced from wall to wall as the door to the interview room crashed shut. 

Sans slumped back onto the floor where they’d been sat only a minute ago. Face buried in his knees, cursing his stupid stats and the anomalies that’d caused them. Tremors of emotion running up his spine made his back ache again. He was an idiot. It was his fault the situation had escalated this far. 

He stayed like that for some time until the door on his side was push open and a large hand roughly pulled him to his feet and dragged the sorry skeleton back to the cold isolation of his cell.


	26. Fireside

Unlike two days previous, when Papyrus had taken the long walk back from Hotland jail, he was not filled with painful anguish, but instead a hot anger. It burned in his core stronger than he’d felt before. This feeling seemed to surpass his usual level-headedness by miles. 

Not sparing even a glance, let alone a cheery wave to the folks he passed by, Papyrus stomped down to Snowdin. He passed his house heading for a different location- Grillby’s. A place he’d never normally visit by choice, the skeleton made his way towards the establishment with fiery seriousness. 

While visiting Sans, he had desperately hoped to get some sort of explanation. A confession of … something. Anything! Papyrus could start dealing with things if he knew how their situation stood. With all of the puzzle pieces he could work on finding a solution. He was sceptical Sans had given him that. Honesty wasn’t his brother’s strongest characteristic and despite the heartfelt ‘confession’ he had received, Papyrus could not accept such a lose unhelpful explanation. 

Something wasn’t right. There had to be more to it than that, and in his anger, Papyrus could think of only one monster who might hold the answers. 

Roughly, the door to Grillby’s was shoved open. Paying no attention to the few afternoon drinkers quietly occupying the booths, Papyrus marched straight to the bar.  
Grillby’s eyes curiously raised from whatever he was busying himself with. Pink bird sat lazily by him, they appeared to be making small talk. 

“Oh, hi there, Papyrus. Nice to see you in here for a-.” The bird, feeling the anger radiating from the skeleton, fell silent. Warily eyeing him as Papyrus roughly gripped the old wooden countertop beside her. 

“Tell me what you’ve done to my brother.” Papyrus hissed, leering at Grillby. 

The elemental placed down whatever he’d been doing, he turned, giving the skeleton his full attention. ‘I’m afraid I’m unsure what you mean.’ Grillby replied into his mind. 

“Don’t you play dumb with me!” Papyrus yelled, gripping the side of the bar hard enough that it hurt. “You’re the one who’s had their hand in this whole thing!”  
People were taking notice now. The monsters around them had fallen silent and were staring over. Pink bird placed her drink down, looking uncomfortable. 

“Shall we talk somewhere quiet?” Grillby offered, seeming totally relaxed. 

“No!” Papyrus snapped back, “Tell me what has been going on- I know you have something to do with all of this!” 

Grillby beckoned with his hand while slowly moving back, keeping his eyes on Papyrus. ‘Come, let us get some air.’ 

Seeing Grillby heading the door to his back room, Papyrus pushed off from the bar and quickly pursued. He’d have his little chat with the flame monster whether he liked it or not. Sharply he huffed, following Grillby into his back room and through another door leading outside. Without the intense smell of grease and burnt wood, Papyrus felt like he could breathe again. At the back of the building, under the trees, there were still a few clumps of snow which were surviving despite the rain they’d been having. Thankfully, it had at least stopped for now. 

As soon as the door swung shut behind them both, Grillby spoke, ‘Has something happened to Sans?’ He asked. 

Papyrus tutted, “Oh I’m sure you aren’t completely unaware. Surely you’ve noticed his disappearance.” He said with a hint of sarcasm. 

‘I have been attempting to contact him.’ Grillby softly replied. 

“Oh I bet!” Papyrus bit back sceptically. “With how you’ve been bullying him into doing horrific things, making him lie, getting him to take the fall for you. Tell me, is it just you or is there a gang of you doing this?” 

This time, a few golden sparks crackled from Grillby’s head. ‘I don’t follow, Papyrus. If something has happened to Sans, please tell-.’

“He’s in the jail, in Hotland!” He shouted. “They found enough evidence to arrest him. We had to…” There was nothing more to say really. 

Papyrus’s eyes widened as the temperature in the air noticeably rose. The flames around Grillby crackling and dancing. ‘Is he alright?’ Papyrus was surprised when the words were spoken so calmly into his mind. A sudden fierce frustration bubbled from the elemental.

“Yes, I think. I visited him this morning.” The words came out strained. 

Did Grillby intend on fighting? Papyrus wouldn’t mind if he did. For now, he seemed to be considering the skeleton’s words.

“Is this what you wanted?” Papyrus asked, much quieter than his previous shouting though it still carried an icy sting. 

Grillby tilted his head, ‘What makes you think I would have wanted that?’ 

“W-well, you’ve been manipulating him, haven’t you!”

The intensity of Grillby’s flames ebbed away slightly, though the power behind them still made Papyrus wary. A wave of smoke rose from Grillby in what resembled a long sigh. ‘I can assure you, I wish no ill upon your brother. But I understand there are many things plaguing him. I’m aware he has worried for some time about the outcome of your investigation.’

Sans had been worried about all of this? Well, yes, with Undyne throwing accusations at him recently, of course his brother would have been concerned. Papyrus didn’t let the honest edge of those words impact him. “And how do I know you aren’t lying?” Dishonesty seemed like a running theme at the moment, there was always the possibility of more. 

‘Would you like some tea?’ Grillby asked. 

Papyrus blinked. “Tea?” 

Again, Grillby headed for a different door at the back of the building. ‘I think we need some tea.’ He insisted. The flame monster had cooled back to his usual state, if the air temperature around him was to go by. Papyrus offhandedly wished he had as much control over himself right now.

Papyrus did not argue this time either, he followed Grillby up a steep set of stairs and into a well-furnished living space. It occurred to Papyrus that he’d never seen Grillby’s house before now. It was surprisingly cold in the wide, open room. The invitation felt quite intimate, considering how closed off the fire monster tended to be.

Grillby flicked an ember into a large fireplace, it immediately lit up, a pleasant orange glow filling the room. ‘Sit wherever you like.’ He said, walking to a tiny kitchen area and flicking more fire onto a stove, placing a pan of water above it. 

Papyrus hesitated but took a seat on one of two large armchairs in front of the fire. He shuffled in his seat, sitting on the edge, his tumbling thoughts making him unable to settle. His body was tired but seemed to crave chasing after some evil-doer or throwing magic attacks at something. There were lots of things he still wanted to shout and scream at Grillby, but… putting his feelings into words was troublesome. Instead, Papyrus glared into the twirling flames of the fire. He hated it, being sat down when there were things to be done. It would be getting late soon and some activities were best done while it was light. A report for Undyne would need to be written, detailing not only the goings on of Snowdin and the Sentries (of which there was currently only Papyrus himself, everyone else either on sick leave or in prison), the vile affair yesterday as well as his discussion with Sans today, required documenting. Papyrus had also not cleaned anything in the house in a day or two, so that would absolutely need to be done. 

His elbows slumped down onto his knees, body refusing to expend any more energy than needed. The fire swirled and flickered, the rest of the world disappearing around it. An unknown amount of time passing as the heat from the fire drew all feeling out of him. Maybe after he’d done everything he needed to, Papyrus could take a ten minute nap before going for a jog. That would be nice.

‘Your tea.’

With a startled gasp, Papyrus whirled around. “O-oh, yes. Thank you.” He took the mug from Grillby, who looked down at him curiously before taking his own seat in the opposite armchair. 

‘I hope I made it how you like it. Sans has mentioned you prefer your tea weak.’ 

Papyrus tried it. It was just right and an excellent temperature. He nodded, “Thank you, sorry about that.” 

‘Have you been sleeping?’ Grillby asked.

Papyrus laughed humourlessly, “Not for about forty hours.” He said in a mock cheeriness, “Not since I had to take Sans to that dreadful place.” His eyes fell back to the fireplace, its dance was captivating and very soothing… This tea was very good.

‘You asked me to prove I’m not lying.’ 

Blinking back once again. Of course, that had been what they were discussing. Compared to his yelling a few minutes ago, Papyrus wasn’t feeling quite so furious. Agitated better described his emotional state, but nowhere quite a volatile as previous. “I did, yes. You may appreciate the fact that I’m rather tired of being deceived.”

Grillby returned something of a sympathetic nod. He placed his drink in the floor beside his chair. ‘Please forgive the means. Though, given the urgency you face, I doubt you’ll mind.’ 

Papyrus was about to question what the ‘means’ were but was silenced by a flash of orange light. 

Thinking Grillby had just created a fireball above his palm, Papyrus nearly jumped to his feet, anticipating a threat. Realising what the object was, made him pause. The same fiery orange as his flames, and a similar movement to its surface, Grillby’s soul sat in the air. 

“O-oh.” Papyrus stammered. 

‘Is this ok?’ The elemental asked.

Papyrus didn’t know where to stare. Was he supposed to look at Grillby’s soul? Or was that invasive? It was difficult to tell, in this context, being so sudden. “Yes, of course. Um… I’ve never read anyone’s s-soul before.” He warned, rather embarrassed. 

He’d seen his brother’s soul before. Sans had often brought Papyrus along to medical examinations when they were younger, he’d gotten quite used to seeing the tiny blue heart. Though, that was back before Papyrus had understood quite what it meant to expose the very core of oneself. Back then, he just viewed it like another weird body part. 

‘That is fine. Even the greatest secret keepers cannot lie through their soul, the only monsters who can are entirely delusional or dead.’ Grillby reassured, only looking slightly uncomfortable at having his soul exposed. 

“Sans told me that, too.” Papyrus half smiled, still unsure of himself. Indeed, he could feel Grillby’s discomfort, just by looking into his soul. He didn’t know much about soul reading at all. That had used to be Sans’ thing, who had read a number of books on the subject at some point. 

‘I will only answer questions regarding myself, not Sans. His truth is his to tell.’ Grillby said.

That was fair, he could get enough information this way. Papyrus nodded, “Ok, well… Have you been telling Sans to do anything, um, bad?” He began, eyes moving to look into Grillby’s soul.

‘I have not.’ Grillby stated. His soul stayed as it had done, Papyrus assumed that had been a pass. There was a odd sensation, like he immediately knew Grillby had been truthful.

“Do you know of anybody else who has been?” 

‘No.’ Still nothing. 

“Do you know who killed Ms Truffle or Professor Ignis?” Papyrus asked, squinting his eyes to catch anything subtle in Grillby’s soul. A strange calming feeling slowly fell over Papyrus, like a blanket. There were prickles of his previous anger, but they did not matter. That could wait. Time and place for everything. 

‘No.’ He said again. 

Why hadn’t Papyrus been interviewing people like this from the start, it was so efficient!... Bit intrusive but it certainly cleared up the suspicions he had about Grillby.  
There was one thing which really nagged at Papyrus, one thing he needed to ask. Did it cross the boundary though? Gritting his teeth, Papyrus asked, “You don’t have to answer this, but I… just need to know.” Immediately, there was a feeling of uncertainty running through him, something Papyrus knew was from Grillby. “Sans told me on the night of the first murder, he had not visited you but had fallen asleep outside instead. Do you know if this is true?” 

The question was received well, the uncertain feeling dropping away. “Sans confessed this to me, also. I very much believe him.” 

Again, another truth. This time accompanied by a pleasant warm feeling. How strange.

Papyrus was hopelessly relieved to hear this. Of course, there was a tiny chance Sans could still have lied, though Grillby had heard and seen enough to not be easily swayed by tall tales. That much he gathered by the bright orange lifeforce. “Thank you.” Papyrus said, letting the relief he felt emanate through his magic. “One more thing… You do, well, _like_ my brother? You know? In _that_ way?” He asked, rather embarrassed.

The reaction was of immediate dismay and shock. Grillby gave a rumbling sort of cough, the kind you might expect from someone who rarely ever talks, and when they do, they sound like a demon. ‘I care very much for Sans.’ He replied in his usual chilled out drone. 

The statement had been very much true, though ripples appeared through the textured surface of the soul. Papyrus felt it too, the answer had been an understatement, a huge understatement. Better still, Grillby was very embarrassed of such and was trying to cover it up. Apparently, a question of such nature hadn’t ben anticipated.

Smiling, Papyrus leaned back, “Thank you, Grillby, that’ll be all.” He took a long drink of his tea. 

The orange magical organ zipped back to its owner, out of sight. Grillby sat back also, looking far more comfortable now the entirety of his being was no longer exposed. 

The calm feeling which surrounded Papyrus, lifted. This must have been another product of analysing the other’s soul. Papyrus missed it instantly. He looked down to the floor. “You have more levels of violence than I’d expect.” 

Grillby nodded, anther puff of dark smoke rising silently from him. ‘Unfortunately. I have lived many years and needed to defend myself a number of times.’ Grillby answered, sounding tired. ‘In my youth, I used to seek out fights. I wished that I’d been around during the human and monster war. I thought my interest in fighting might have been put to use well there. Though now I dare say it would have made no difference, in reality.’ He said. 

Papyrus made sure to store that insight away in his memory. “Couldn’t you have joined the Royal Guard?”

Grillby lightly shook his head, the light reflecting off his glasses. ‘Back then I preferred to act as a delinquent, more than putting my ‘skill’ to better use. The Guard wouldn’t have likely taken me anyway, they ended up arresting me.’ 

“They did?” Papyrus said, very surprised. It was an odd mental image, a young Grillby running about causing mayhem. 

He nodded. ‘I was held in a cell for a short while before I was sent to the Royal Judge. They shouldn’t have spared me, the way I was heading. Yet they chose to give me a chance. The experience scared me enough that, when I was finally sent home, I made a change in myself. Since then, I’ve managed to stay on the right side of the law, thankfully.’ He added finally, with light humour. 

This had easily been the most he’d heard Grillby talk. He was a more interesting monster than the cardboard personality Papyrus had originally assumed of him. “Wowie, that’s impressive.”

They both paused to take a drink of tea, looking into the swirling fire. Papyrus was starting to fidget again. The calming feeling had left him and despite his anger not returning by anything more than just a discomfort in the back of his mind, his tiredness was catching up. It made him emotional and that lead to embarrassing situations unbefitting of The Great Papyrus. 

“Can I ask you something?” The skeleton said.

Grillby nodded, a subtle action only indicated by the movement of his glasses. 

“Why did you kill Egg?” 

‘Fear.’ He said simply before continuing after several long seconds. ‘I had not stepped in sooner for fear of a different kind. I wish I had though, things may have concluded differently, perhaps. Sometimes it is better to break the rules, if you truly wish to make an impact…. Something easier said than done.  
Still, I am very regretful of my actions. I apologise that you had to see me that way.’ 

Papyrus could accept that, he had not been a saint either. “I too apologise for my display earlier. That was tremendously rude of me.” 

‘Of course.’ Grillby appeared to wait for Papyrus to continue, when the skeleton did not, he spoke again. ‘What evidence was found against Sans?’ 

Papyrus looked deep into his half-finished drink and explained the events of two days prior. Now that he thought back on it, it felt like Papyrus was responsible for all of this, being one of the monsters who escorted Sans from his sentry station to his cell. Maybe he’d been too harsh with his brother during their brief time together today. 

Grillby sat with his fingers laced together. ‘Is he well?’

“I think.” Papyrus replied, sounding unsure. 

‘Do you have any evidence that might help his case?’ 

“Not really. Though I suppose explaining what happened yesterday would be a start. I also found a rather nice threat in my mailbox when I returned home- addressed to both me and my brother.” Papyrus sighed. 

The elemental nodded, taking in Papyrus’s state. ‘I heard about what happened. I’m sorry you had to witness such a thing.’

Papyrus forced a grin, “Well, nothing a future Guardsman like myself cannot handle.” He only half believed himself. “I don’t suppose you have anything that might back Sans up?” 

Grillby thought for a moment. ‘Sans carries many secrets, more than most. I am aware of some but I imagine I am not privy to all.’

“Anything you can tell me?” Papyrus asked, doubtfully.

‘I will not discuss what has been entrusted to me, however, I will help you to solve what I can. I believe you are due some answers and unlike what your brother may assume, I see you are more than capable of handling the truth.’

Papyrus sat up at attention, eager for any clues. 

Grillby took a sip of his drink, ‘It would be in Sans’ best interest to have more faith in those close to him. I urge you to speak to Dr Alphys. I’m sure that Sans does not entrust all of his secrets to any specific person, though I believe Alphys knows more than most. It would do you well to find out what you can on the subject of timeline theory and distortion, mostly the theory of ‘Resets’.’ 

“Oh, I’ve heard of that before.” Papyrus exclaimed, “What does that have to do with Sans?” 

‘That is for you to figure out. In deciphering your brother, you may learn more of the nature of your investigation.’ Grillby replied. ‘He informed me that documents relating to the aforementioned subject were stolen from the second victim. If the culprit is framing Sans, then there may be a deeper connection yet unseen.’

“Well… I’ve always appreciated a good puzzle.” Papyrus laughed nervously, not quite knowing what to do with this information. Suddenly, realisation dawned on him, “Oh goodness, I’m sorry! You’re supposed to be downstairs, aren’t you?”

Grillby waved him off, ‘No matter. I’m sure we’d hear if something dreadful was to happen.’ He said in a humoured tone. ‘Are you feeling better now.’

Papyrus nodded. Thankful for the strange monster’s help. 

‘Then I urge you to get some rest, the mind can be an unwelcome place for those unprepared to dwell within it. Another tea?’

“No thank you… I maybe should go home.” He agreed. 

‘If you need anything, do not hesitate to visit me. I will drop in to see Sans tomorrow.’ 

“T-thank you.” Papyrus said, the words were an emotional blow, for what reason, he couldn’t understand. Instantly, it felt like his eyes were welling with tears. “I’m not able to visit him, unless I have reason.” Papyrus said bitterly. 

Grillby nodded. 

Papyrus stood from his chair and made his way down the staircase to Grillby’s back door, the elemental following. Outside, back amongst the first pine trees of the forest, Papyrus turned to Grillby, “Thank you again. I-I must apologise, I have been rather judgmental of you in the past and well… that was very silly of me. You can rely on me to try to figure this whole thing out… I’ll… I’ll figure it out.” Papyrus said, trying to reassure himself.

Grillby shook his hand, sweeping that immovable calmness over the skeleton with his magic. ‘Of course. Now, please get some sleep.’ 

The two departed. Papyrus walking back towards his empty home. Maybe all those chores and reports could wait until tomorrow? No, just a power nap would do when he reached home. Papyrus was sure he could still get a number of jobs done later. 

About half way back, something caught the skeleton’s eye. One of the children, the armless yellow monster child often seen excitedly exploring, was stood in the alleyway between two buildings. Papyrus stopped to survey what they were up to. The monster kid was swaying on the spot, shivering slightly. Was it the lighting or did their scales look duller than usual?

“Hello there, are you quite alright?” Papyrus asked. The monster turned, very slowly. His eyes were grey, only tiny black pupils sat within them. It was an unnerving sight. 

The monster whispered, too quiet for Papyrus to hear. His gaze appeared to pass through the skeleton, like he knew he being spoken too, but remained unable to identify the source of the noise. 

Papyrus walked closer, concern for the young monster stirring him. He waved, trying to snap them out of whatever trancelike state they’d found themselves in.  
The muttering got louder, unintelligible and shaky. 

With a gasp, the monster kid blinked and reeled back.

The sudden movement shocked Papyrus also, making him startle. 

Looking around, the monster kid noticed Papyrus. “O-oh, hi there mister! Sorry, mom’s cooking must’a made me go a little loopy.” He looked aware now, but still wobbly on his feet. “Seeya!” They called before the skeleton could say anything else. The monster took off down the street, dizzy and stumbling but not looking quite so strange. 

Papyrus watched after them as the kid headed for Snowdin Forest. How strange. He brushed it off in favour of taking that power nap. 

 

Sans sat in the darkness of his cell. In his boredom, he had taken to unlacing one of his shoes, fiddling with the string to keep him occupied. His short time spent with Papyrus kept replaying through his head. Each replay spent more time focusing on the worst moments- of which there seemed to be many. His head felt like a cacophony of his brother’s tearful yelling. 

His neighbours did nothing to help. On one side the blanket was snoring loudly, rising and falling with long deep breaths. Opposite, the Temmie was staring hard at the stone wall, practising some sort of whispering. It was irritating and had been going on for what he guessed was a little over an hour. 

This was day four, if the ‘porridge’ brought round was to go by. Today’s breakfast had some tough stale clumps and wasn’t nearly as salty as a bowl he’d been previously served. It was still distributed by the mean bird woman who continued to glare down at every inmate who she pushed food to.

No new inmates had arrived and, though his vision was limited from his cell, no one had left either. The same dull silence ever continuing. 

Light footsteps sounded further up the hall, too light to be in armour. Sans got his hopes up, as he had done each time such an occurrence happened. Not many visitors frequented this place. Like him, it appeared not many people expected guests. The exception being the Temmie, who received a gaggle of guests daily. The footsteps stopped further up the hall and Sans’ hope instantly faded. He so desperately wanted to apologise to Papyrus. Had Sans really lied so much that his brother refused to believe him even at his most sincere? Atop of that, he felt like a coward for not showing his soul. Revealing every secret through that would be more than a shock to Papyrus. Sans couldn’t imagine how much he’d freak out over seeing stats that high and a soul so damaged. Papyrus wouldn’t understand. 

Sans leaned back against the cold cave wall, wrapping the shoe string around his fingers. 

Not too long after, another set of footsteps approached. Turning eagerly to face the opening of the tunnel, the lighting on the walls flickered. Firelight reflecting off the smooth river worn walls. 

Someone rounded the corner towards him, carrying a torch. It looked like that anyway, being stuck in the darkness made even this light hurt the skeleton’s eyes. 

As the figure continued to near him, Sans was struck with a sudden realisation. It wasn’t someone carrying a torch at all. 

“Grillby!” Sans called, maybe a little too loud for the Guards’ liking. 

The figure, stopped and focussed on Sans’ movement in the dark before approaching. 

‘I thought they’d sent me down the wrong cell block for a joke.’ Grillby said, looking Sans up and down. 

Sans huffed with laughter, overjoyed that his friend had taken the time to visit. The urge to throw his arms around Grillby was stopped only by the bars between them. He settled on a thankful smile.

After a brief glance about at his surroundings, Grillby disappeared for a second before returning with an upturned crate. Slightly larger than Sans’, he settled atop of it, close to the bars separating them. Kicking his mattress out of the way and dragging his own box closer, Sans eagerly sat before his friend, knees pressed to the dark iron bars. Something like excitement ran through his bones, making him forget the freezing temperature.  
Speaking of the cold, Grillby’s flames instantly worked to dispel the chilly air. Sans pressed impossibly closer to his friend. 

‘Are you ok, Sans?’ Grillby asked into his mind. Apprehensive concern present even in the shared thought. The elemental, looked him up and down, checking the other’s physical state. 

In return, Sans nodded eagerly. “Y-yeah, I just-. I can’t believe you’re here.” He said, awestruck, his grin large and genuine. Sans had become so accustomed to the dark over the past days that the light Grillby gave off was damn near blinding. In this light his flames stood out as if in high definition as they swirled together. 

A few sparks flew from Grillby’s head, his magic reached out in reassurance. 

Sans wished he could have used his own to express his gratitude. Unfortunately, thanks to the stupid suppressor which bit harshly into his arm, even that was impossible. 

Grillby’s eyes, which in this darkness, were seen much clearer through his flames; drifted to the brace encircling Sans’ wrist. Was he assessing why he could feel none of Sans’ magic in response? 

‘They’ve changed those.’ The flame monster said, confirming Sans’ thoughts. ‘Everything else seems the same, from what I recall.’ 

“You been here before?” Sans questioned, not hiding his surprise. Well, it wasn’t that strange of a scenario if Grillby had been visiting someone. The monster knew many people, though Sans only knew a small amount who Grillby considered himself friends with. A very small amount. 

“I mean, visiting, I guess.” He corrected himself. 

To Sans’ disbelief, Grillby lightly shook his head. ‘I was rather stupid when I was younger.’ 

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of that. “Forgive me if I can’t imagine you being that much of a hotshot.”

‘I assumed my soul would give away such mistakes.’ Grillby replied with mild humour. 

“I don’t look.” Sans said dismissively, waving him off with an uninterested noise. 

Grillby did not elaborate any further on what these ‘mistakes’ were. Luckily for Sans, he had no interest in prying. The emotion of the moment was making his head spin. As they sat together, the relief of finally having a friendly face who wasn’t here to shout at him was marred by the thought of his previous conversation with his brother. Before Grillby could say anything more, Sans aired the most prominent of his many concerns. “I’m really worried about Papyrus. Saw him yesterday. He filled me in on what’s been happening and I’m not sure he’s coping.” Sans’ eyes roamed to the dark puddle in the corner of his cell, “I tried to make things better, but I ended up doing the opposite.” He confessed. 

‘I also spoke to him yesterday. Try not to worry, we worked some things out over tea.’ Grillby said. 

Sans suspected he may have been leaving out a few of the grittier details. Though it was an exceedingly rare occurrence, seeing Papyrus upset- this situation took things to new extremes. Combining his brother’s inability to rest when work or stress was upon him as well as his often wild imagination; it could lead to a Papyrus who Sans didn’t quite know how to deal with.  
“Did he mention his theory about you forcing me to do your evil bidding?” Sans asked.

‘Indeed, I’ll admit I hadn’t been expecting that,’ Grillby conceded, looking past Sans, in thought. 

Sans rolled his eyes, “He’s been on about that for weeks now. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t said anything to you before, ya’ know how he likes to make a show of things.” He said with a fond smile which broke through his worry. 

‘Really? I was aware your brother isn’t the most enamoured with myself, though I am thankful to say we seem to have made some progress on this front.’ 

This was at least a relief to Sans, if only slightly. The idea of any of his friends new or old- least of all Grillby- being targeted for this made his soul ache. None of them deserved to reside indefinitely in a cell like his own. 

“He’s getting threats through the door. Did he tell you that?” Sans said darkly through gritted teeth. 

‘Yes, it concerns me also.’ Grillby admitted, folding his hands in his lap. His fidgeting giving away that the idea may be bothering him more than his limited expression might let on. ‘I will keep watch over him where possible.’ 

“Thanks.” Sans replied, unsure how Grillby might do this but none the less very relieved to have his support. 

Both parties on the same page, the discussion died down, leaving them both to sit quietly. The dripping of water from somewhere was the only sound. His eyes now comfortable with the extra light, Sans mapped out the shadows upon the walls, framed by dancing orange. 

After several minutes of quiet, Grillby spoke up, ‘Are you sure you’ve been alright?’ There was something knowing in his tone which made Sans feel see-through. Any dishonesty would be detected with ease. 

Glancing down at his hands where they rested on his knees, Sans replied, more carefully than he usually did with the bartender. “It sucks but I’ll be ok. Bit boring is all. Haven’t got much in the way of intelligent conversation. Everyone in here other than me must’ve swallowed their tongues.” The skeleton joked. He pointed left, at his neighbour’s cell. “This one hasn’t blown his cover once.” 

The blanketed figure shivered, knowing it was being spoken about. Two trays of untouched food sat on their floor, not that Sans blamed them. 

“And who could forget Temmie.” Sans pointed behind Grillby at the much smaller cage. The view of the small monster’s cell had been obscured by Grillby, so far, but as the elemental moved to look over his shoulder, it revealed the strange monster staring at the pair, unblinking. 

“HOI!” They squealed, being given attention. Their tail flopped around the floor dusting grit and grime from side to side. 

“No, please don’t.” Sans groaned, knowing he had been the one to activate this annoying creature. 

“Wats your nayme?!” They chirped.

Sans looked as if all the joy had been knocked out of him, “I’ve told you- what?- four times now?!” 

“Gess why I’m in hewe!” 

“No!” 

The Temmie giggled, “Oi’ve committed mwan slaughta!” They happily announced. 

“That’s todays story, huh?” Sans grimaced. “Shush now, or I’ll set my not-boyfriend on you.” He motioned to Grillby who looked between the two with mild confusion.  
The flame monster acknowledged the Temmie with an audible hum which emerged more as a bubbling gurgle. Disturbing or not it didn’t seem to perturb the small creature.

Temmie appeared to be done talking anyway, the looked around, loosing focus on Sans and Grillby. They proceeded to wash their face by licking their paw. 

“It’s been a blast having them around.” Sans said with heavy sarcasm. He smiled despite the irritation the monster was causing him.

‘Are you cold?’ Grillby asked.

“Only a little, I guess.” 

‘Only a little?’ He parroted back, making a discomfort rise in Sans. 

“Yeah.”

Grillby stayed quiet, watching Sans closely.

“Really, don’t worry about me. Even I can survive a week in here.” Sans reassured. 

‘A week?’ He repeated back. 

Sans sighed, he hated this form of questioning. The scrutinising made the monster doubt his words, made him feel like he was being examined under a microscope.  
“That’s about the usual holding time, right?” Sans asked, feigning a confidence he didn’t have. In truth he had no idea of the average holding time. 

‘I was here longer than a week before being sent to the Judge.’ Grillby stated plainly.

The Judge. That was another question yet to be asked. There currently was no Judge. Of course, there was a plan for events such as these. The responsibility would fall to either Toriel or Undyne to try him, or, they could nominate a member of the council to look over his soul. However, with Toriel in charge, Sans suspected he would skip that stage and be sent directly to trial before a court. 

_A week._ That was what he was banking on. Then he could return home to Papyrus, Grillby’s and his gross but comfy bed. 

Opting not to respond to Grillby’s statement, which was besides, merely anecdotal and not something to be relied upon- the two returned to silence. 

Had they both had cups of tea in hand and the old boxes exchanged for arm chairs; this would have not been unlike the quiet times spent beside Grillby’s fireplace. Despite being caged in this damp, drab place, Sans felt comfortable for the first time since arriving. His elemental friend had that ability, able to make even the direst of situations feel like just a bump in the road. To dilute any situation with his relaxing presence. Right now, the stillness wasn’t so bad. 

An unchecked amount of time dragged on and Sans found himself leaning his side against the cell bars, dozing off. 

He was shaken from the blissful state by a shout from the other end of the tunnel. “Visiting time’s over, c’mon back up!” A gruff voice shouted, the sound fairly distorted by the distance and shape of the tunnel. 

A trail of smoke rolled into the air from Grillby as he stirred. He gave Sans an odd look, which the skeleton hoped wasn’t pity. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Sans.’

“You sure?” The other asked quietly.

Grillby nodded, ‘Of course, my apologies for not seeing you sooner.’ He rose from his seat, which was neatly tucked back into a corner. 

Sans returned a half shrug, “Ya’ didn’t know.” He rose from his seat as if to see his friend out, not quite ready to face the solitude and boredom once more. He forced a grin. “Say hi to everyone for me.” 

‘Stay well, Sans.’ Grillby said with a nod as he reluctantly walked away.

Sans watched him disappear around the curve of the tunnel, watched as the warm orange glow of Grillby’s flames faded away. 

It was much darker now, his eyes had gotten used to his friend’s light. A nervous feeling crawled up into him as in turn the chill in the air returned with vengeance. 

Crawling onto his mattress, Sans attempted to preserve any remaining heat by huddling into himself- a difficult task for a skeleton monster. Snapping his eyes shut, he hoped to sleep off the growing unease, the previous calm seeping out of him like the heat. Sleeping wouldn’t come easy if Sans dwelled on these troublesome feelings. 

Forcing himself to relax, sleep was kind enough to drag Sans away for a while. 

 

A/n:  
Thanks for all the kind words this load of crap has been getting, its super inspiring that anyone is even reading it, let alone actually interacting. Much love!  
… So have you guys figured out who done it yet? I mean there's Sans... but do you think he's actually the bad guy or do you think there's another big bad? I'd love to hear some early accusations. Because all of the evidence is there, you can work everything out now... In fact, I may have been too blatant a few times, so you probably figured it out a while back. XD 

Still love to hear your thoughts though. (I just want this damn mystery to work, screw the rest!)  
Sorry about these author's notes. They're long and messy. Meh.  
Thanks as always.


	27. Visiting hours

“M-make yourself at home, Papyrus.” Alphys said, leading him inside her laboratory home. The bright lights were piercing and a sterile smell clung to the air. 

The skeleton wondered in, noticing that the place was more orderly than usual. This included a distinctive lack of empty snack packaging. No dust lined a single object and the large camera screen displayed a rather serene image of Snowdin forest, with a squirrel scampering across the branch of a tree. 

“Thank you for sparing me a moment, I’m sure you must be busy.” Papyrus said, brushing some clinging ash from his scarf, a gift from Hotlands harsh environment. Usually when visiting Alphys, he’d be accompanied by Undyne, though he wasn’t put off any by her not being present. Alphys was a great friend he always regretted not spending as much time with. If Alphys was unnerved by him visiting alone, she did not show it- not that she should be nervous, but Papyrus knew the lizard monster could be sensitive about others within her living space. 

Alphys seemed distracted today. That and tired, very tired. Her glasses did nothing to hide the dark shadows creeping around her eyes, she must have been incredibly busy. Papyrus could empathise, his intense exhaustion had mostly been slept off. After leaving Grillby’s two days prior, he had fallen asleep and not awoken for over fifteen hours, making it easily the longest nap he’d ever taken. Resting had allowed his mind to finally put things into perspective, ordering the events of the last several days. Today he returned to his duties with a far more rational head on his shoulders.

"S'ok, you know you can s-see me anytime.” She said quickly, leading at an equal pace towards her fridge where two cans of soda were removed, one thrown Papyrus’s way. “I’m k-kinda in the middle of a thing today, so you can come downstairs, if ya want? So I can… You don’t m-mind, d-do you?”

Catching the drink with ease, he nodded back to her. “No problem at all! I just had an issue I needed your opinion on.” 

The short scientist led them both into the lab’s elevator where she punched the button to take them one floor lower. Many floors were listed, it was amazing the building went down so far into the earth. What sort of equipment could possibly be stored to need that much space? The old machine grumbled and shunted uncomfortably, enough that Papyrus grabbed the nearest wall. 

“Don’t worry, I know what to do if it breaks down.” Alphys reassured with a smile, totally unphased by the loud scaping of metal as the worn contraption clunked into place. “I also f-fitted it with emergency breaks, in case of total failure.” She explained with less enthusiasm than when usually discussing her successful work. 

After Alphys gave the doors a good kick, they reluctantly slid open to reveal a corridor stretching before them. The pair exited the unsafe elevator, the air warm and stuffy. Large work spaces housing various equipment branched off. They were all as neat and tidy as upstairs. Undyne had mentioned previously that Alphys was expecting to be re-staffing the facilities soon, Papyrus supposed the spring cleaning was for this reason. Sans had mentioned helping, too. They came to the furthest left of the corridor, labelled ‘Rm01’. 

An odd metallic smell hit Papyrus the moment he entered. It was clear this was the main base of the Scientist’s current work. Not an inch on the work tables was not occupied with equipment of some sorts. Paperwork lay messily about, a whiteboard displayed so much cramped text that is was impossible to decipher from his distance. In one corner, a large set of blueprints held down by paperweights and stationery labelled a complex diagram of what looked like a skull shaped machine. What a silly design, though Papyrus had to admit that skulls were pretty cool none the less. It was still an odd choice. 

“Sorry about the mess! Kinda haven’t left here f-for a few days.” Alphys nervously laughed. 

It showed. In fact, the skeleton figured the reason for the tidy atmosphere upstairs was that Alphys had been exclusively living in here. The tables were dotted with food wrappers and plates. It drew the image of Sans’ bedroom back to mind, making him shudder. 

“Of course. It doesn’t faze me, I live with Sans, after all.” Papyrus said, the mention of his brother feeling uncomfortable. Like he was talking about someone deceased in present tense, denying their death. “Is that supposed to be open?” He pointed at a fridge unit with the door left open. It was crammed full of boxes, a row of vials containing a bright red see-through liquid and many colourful drink cans. 

“O-oh!” Alphys scampered over and slammed the fridge door closed. She stood beside it, hands fidgeting nervously, “I heard about Sans. I’m r-really sorry. I wish there was s-something I could do to help.” 

Papyrus perked up, “As a matter of fact, there is.” He announced.

Alphys’ tail dropped, a fearful look melting onto her face. 

“Not much, I promise! Just a few things I was curious about.” Papyrus reassured, holding his hands up to calm his friend. 

The look on her face only intensified. “W-w-what d’you n-need to know?” She stammered in distress. 

Papyrus, thankfully having experience, knew how to diffuse these situations with… varying success. He cracked open his drinks can with a pop. “Nothing serious, I assure you.” Which wasn’t entirely true. Papyrus didn’t know how serious the subject of these ‘Resets’ were, though if the topic pertained to Sans in any way, then it was very serious to him. “That can wait, what have you been working on? It sure looks like you’ve been busy.” 

Stirring, Alphys cautiously eyed the skeleton, “W-well, umm… I started a n-new project a while back. I think it could be pretty important, more so than I f-first envisioned.” 

Alphys didn’t elaborate but moved towards a long desk, Papyrus met her half way, resting his drink upon the thick wooden table. It was busy with beakers, syringes and a sandwich box. The box looked to be filled with monster dust. Papyrus cringed and hoped to goodness he was wrong. 

“Can we just cut to the point?” Alphys asked, picking up a complicated looking object to pass between her hands. “The anticipation w-will be the death of me.”

“Well, as you wish.” Papyrus cleared his non-existent throat. “Some time ago you explained to me the concept of ‘Resets’ I have it on good terms that Sans has something to do with… that. I hoped you could provide extra insight into this?” He tried sounding as confident as possible despite remembering very little about what she told him about the phenomenon, as well as the limited research Papyrus had been able online. 

The request hit Alphys like a blast from a magic attack. She fumbled, nearly dropping the equipment in her hands. Her eyes skimmed the table top, searching for insight on how to proceed with the skeleton’s request. “N-no. No, I can’t tell you.” She shook.

It was Papyrus’s turn to look shocked, “Why on earth not?” 

“Because I said way too m-much last time! I’ve been a bad enough f-friend to Sans and I… I feel awful that this has happened t-to him. I can’t betray that trust again.” Alphys insisted. Her expression shifting from apologetic to scowling. “I’m really s-sorry.” 

“Though I appreciate your secrecy, I do need to know.” He pushed, “I’m not trying to be nosy; this is for my brother’s sake.” 

She still shook her head, “I t-told you too much before. You aren’t even s-supposed to know about Resets.” 

“I’m not? Why would that be?” It didn’t seem like that big a deal, Papyrus asked quizzically.

“Sans d-didn’t want you knowing.” Alphys continued to blubber, her eyes zipping from place to place, never focusing on Papyrus. 

The skeleton huffed, throwing his hands on his hips, “Oh really? Well, I rather think that The Great Papyrus can in fact, handle things!” He said, slightly offended. “So was Sans researching the subject and found something concerning?”

The scientist shrunk down further. 

“I shall take that as confirmation. With how the subject has cropped up twice already in this case, I do believe it is my problem.” Papyrus said firmly, standing his ground. Though it gave him no pleasure to be upsetting Alphys like this, it was necessary. “Is this how Sans’ magic got on those crime scenes- was he… Resetting?”  
“It doesn’t w-work like that. Monsters usually aren’t determined enough. There is no anomaly at the moment, but-.” Alphys quickly corrected before covering her mouth and stopping her explanation abruptly.

“… But there was someone messing with, urr, time and stuff before?” Papyrus finished for her.

Alphys once again stared hard at the floor looking very guilty. 

“You know who it was?”

“The human.” Alphys confessed quietly. 

“The one from a while ago? Wowie…” Papyrus thought hard. “Human Souls and Resets were part of the documents stolen from Ignis. I doubt whoever took them wanted it for light reading.” He said in a tone highlighting the likely sinister intentions of the thief. 

Reacting more to this, the smaller monster couldn’t hide her worry. This must have indeed been bothering Alphys. Papyrus stayed quiet, letting her mull the information over. 

Alphys opened and closed her mouth several times before managing to speak. “T-there is one thing. I s-shouldn’t be worried about it, I know it’s silly. He wouldn’t. It always bothered me though…” She stared intensely at an old stain on the floor. “No, it doesn’t matter.”

“Please, Alphys.” Papyrus begged, “Even if you won’t truly break you silence, any information will do.” He said begrudgingly. 

“It shouldn’t b-bother me but… I was always wary t-that Sans might try to gain the power to manipulate our timeline. As a s-sort of last resort, if another anomaly showed up or, well, just because he could.” Alphys said, eventually meeting Papyrus’s worried eyes.

“Last resort?” He echoed. 

Alphys waved her hands in front of her, “Please, don’t think t-too much on that. I know it’s idiotic.”

Papyrus nodded, though this didn’t help to make him feel better. “So, Sans did discover something unsettling while he was researching which he tried to hide, or perhaps couldn’t speak about. That was why he ran away from his work here but still held onto his research-.” 

“No! No more. It’s never b-been my place to answer for him and I w-won’t do now. Sans has trusted me with a lot over the years and I won’t break that now, n-not even to you. I’m sorry Papyrus, it isn’t f-fair on you, but, I know that he’d extend that same curtesy to me and my business.” Alphys insisted.

Papyrus knew he wasn’t getting any more out of her. He lowered his head and slowly nodded. “Thank you, Alphys, though I beg you to consider. Please contact me if something arises.” 

She too nodded. “You are w-welcome to stay, just… please, can we not talk about this?” 

So, he stayed and watched her work for a while, neither saying much. It was nice to have some company, Papyrus suspected the same could be said for Alphys. It must have been very lonely under these harsh lights with only the brightly coloured vials of mystery substance and whirring wall fans for company. 

The scientist collected up one of the red vials from the fridge and placed it into a holder, slow and delicately. 

“That looks like red jelly, while it’s hot, before it sets.” Papyrus smiled in-between sips of his drink. 

Alphys laughed nervously, glancing between Papyrus and the strange substance.

“Doubt it tastes like that thought.” He continued, interested in how her movements shifted. 

“G-g-guess not.” Alphys reluctantly said before attempting to focus back on her work, as if trying to deny anything had been said. 

Seeing right through her, Papyrus huffed a short laugh, “Not allowed to know about that either?” 

“No one is.” She confirmed in a grim tone. 

Papyrus nodded in understanding, left wondering why she was working on it in front of him, if it was top secret. Did she think he held such little knowledge that he would never be suspicious of the substance? Really, that was exactly what was happening. Should it hurt the skeleton’s feeling that she may think less of him, due to his lack of knowledge of the sciences? Or was this an act of pure trust?... Or did Alphys just really not care?  
Papyrus expected it to be the second option, they’d always been excellent friends since Sans introduced them many years previous. Sans… did he know about that strange red stuff?

Alphys cut off his thought with an odd statement. “Everyone knows things they’re n-not supposed to. Things they’ve seen or heard. It’s whether they realise or remember it that makes the difference.”

“Umm, I suppose.” Papyrus said, unsure. He watched as her hands slowed in their movements and eyes began to look lost. 

“Do you remember g-going running in the woods? What we found?” Alphys said almost without moving.

Thinking back, Papyrus recalled their jogging afternoon which resulted in the both being covered in mud. “I remember everything being fine and then running back to Undyne’s, like we were being chased.” He also remembered the crushing fear propelling them back to safety. The rest he couldn’t recall. 

Alphys hummed, long and slow. She looked about the table and patted down her lab coat, looking for her phone. Not finding it, she quickly gave up. “I’ve remembered. It’s p-probably for the best that you haven’t.” 

“What do you mean?” Papyrus frowned, “Surely we just slipped down a muddy slope, not that I’m one to be forgetful, mind you.”

Alphys slowly shook her head. “Nope, we met someone. I’m not s-sure if we were supposed to meet him. At first, I c-couldn’t remember either, but now I can. That and much much more.” 

He couldn’t remember meeting anyone. The paths of waterfall had been pleasant and quiet that day. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened, apart from their startling exit. Papyrus had not thought back on the incident. “Like what?”

“Things which m-make your head hurt, like your very being rejects them.” Her hands found each other and began picking at her claws. “I had many theories. Maybe s-some incident long ago. Artificial magic tests gone wrong, maybe concerning memory-based abilities. Something j-just in the air down here.” She listed off slowly, eyes trailing towards the doorway. “No, it was none of those. It was all just one monster.” The statement was said eerily slowly.

Her tone was chilling. Papyrus didn’t know what to say. He watched as Alphys turned to snatch up an important looking document from a pile. She trotted over and pointed to a jumble of letters. It was unreadable and trying to decipher it only made the back of his skull ache. Papyrus vaguely recognised the feeling. 

Seeing he was getting nowhere, Alphys lowered the paper. “It’s a name. Saying it aloud c-can be unpleasant. I’m not sure evoking his name is wholly safe either.”  
“What?” Papyrus said, trying to stay on track with this cryptic explanation. 

“The old Royal Scientist. Don’t worry, I don’t t-think he can manifest in our world. He’s leaving me a trail to follow.” She said in a slow drawl, unlike how the lizard usually spoke. 

A jolt of pain, like lightening shot through Papyrus’s head and down his spine. With a gasp, he flinched. 

“Oh, sorry. My fault. We’ll s-stop talking about him now.” She said, throwing the paper back onto the pile and returning to her research tasks. Like a light switch, Alphys appeared to return to normal. She snatched up a tiny lump of chalk and scratched out something on the crowded board, undecipherable in the mess.

Papyrus blinked. What? What on earth was going on?...  
Good question, he couldn’t quite remember what she’d just been talking about. One thing lingered, it stuck out clearly amongst his mental fog- “Forgetfulness, memory black outs; both Sans and someone who died in Snowdin the other day were both experiencing those.” Papyrus said worriedly.

Alphys shrugged, “P-possibly related, possibly not. There’re loads of factors which could attribute to that.” She sounded uninterested; her focus drawn to other things.  
It was an odd change. Papyrus could remember when Alphys had been eager to help out with the investigation. She had an eye for mysteries, so this felt uncharacteristic. Had she gotten bored awaiting a conclusion, or was it just her work taking over? 

Left with an uneasy feeling, Papyrus bid her farewell not long after. Not much had been achieved, nowhere as much as he’d have liked. More questions than answers. A theme which had persisted over the duration of this case. Maybe he’d need to head higher. Afterall, Sans did have friends in _royally_ high places.

 

Much to his disappointment, Grillby had not visited, as he’d said he would. Sans could understand why, the bartender was a busy guy, his establishment hardly ever closed and Sans understood that there were priorities higher than himself. They were good friends, sure, but Sans couldn’t expect the elemental to put himself out too far. Besides, Sans was just a regular customer who liked to talk a bit too much about things he probably shouldn’t. Grillby had likely come to his senses, Sans was just some weird monster who liked to vent about his ridiculous emotional baggage. He’d gotten Grillby to lie on his behalf and practically forced them to pretend to be dating. Put into perspective, Sans felt pretty garbage. 

… Not like he was moping or anything.

Ha! That was rubbish though. Whatever his bored mind might tell him, Sans knew Grillby was a loner at heart with very few friends, there wasn’t many monsters he’d go out of the way for, _especially_ if it meant leaving Snowdin. Especially if it meant venturing through Hotland. The elemental didn’t give his word over nothing, Sans was comfortably sure his friend’s presence was needed elsewhere. As for the false dating, well, he could have told Sans to get lost at any point. 

Yet he’d seemed pretty up for the ruse from the moment it had awkwardly been thrown his way. Strange, there weren’t many monsters, great friends or not, who would commit to something like that. For the first time, Sans wondered why Grillby had played along so willingly. Weird. Maybe the elemental was secretly into fake relationships. The monster spent so much of his life cooped up in that bar of his, it would surely provide some much-needed drama to his life.  
Sans huffed a laugh at the thought. 

Though Grillby remained absent, his afternoon was brightened by a visit after all. Two small monsters rounding the corner of the tunnel caught Sans’ attention immediately. He was immensely surprised to see Shrubberthree and Goldwell making an appearance.

“What on earth have you done to wind up in here?” Goldwell grinned as he almost cheerily dragged over the same wooden box Grillby had sat on the previous day.

Sans chuckled at the strange pair as they climbed onto the old damp wood. Their short stature making it quite the climb, especially for Shrub. “Just a misunderstanding. Once I’ve spoken to Undyne, it’ll be sorted.” He replied hopefully.

“It’s not often she comes down here, I don’t think.” Shrubberthree said, whipping out a few vines from their side to pull themselves up onto the box, like a mountain climber might have. 

“I don’t think so either. We’re ok friends, so I’m hoping she’ll make an exception for me.” He shrugged. 

Goldwell made an odd sniffling sound, “Is there anyone around here you don’t know?”

“Only if I haven’t met ‘um.” Sans said with a lazy smile. 

They talked for a while about the incident several days previous. Goldwell giving an unnecessary play by play recount of what had happened. For good measure adding in his numerous theories, most spawning from the idea of- “Can’t trust those bonded monsters, can you. Minds aren’t really their own anymore.” Of course, the event had been the talk of the town, so everyone had been throwing in their own ideas of what could have prompted the would-be suicide of the cheerful monster.

Both Sans and Shrub agreed there was more to it than hidden feelings of hopelessness, which was unfortunately the case for many around them. The monster had always resonated a happy, carefree vibe, echoed by her partner. Both had undamaged souls, a sad rarity down here. If Beansprout insisted the act had been out of the blue, then his word was to be taken. 

Shrubberthree recounted how she’d visited the smaller bug twice in the last few days. She struggled to describe his state. He was totally broken and evading any help. She compared him to how Cloudnine had become lately. The subject was changed soon once she picked up on Sans’ worry for the subject. 

The subject of Goldwell’s business of course came up. ‘Algringtonsly’, as the plant monster called him, when they took on a motherly tone; had been making more rash decisions as of late. He had apparently sold his accommodation in New Home to permanently reside in Snowdin Town. A bold move for someone who despised the cold so bitterly. His tours were somehow still attracting new customers and there had only been a handful of casualties, something the lizard grinned widely about as he explained.  
One amusing thing was a review left on the tours online page. A long rant posted by ‘Coolskeleton96’ had sparked discussion about the tour’s impact on the local wildlife.

Covering up his amusement, Sans quietly agreed to talk to Papyrus about it when he got home. Why Goldwell couldn’t just say something himself, he didn’t know, the guy seemed confident enough. 

Sans’ nerves rose when the clanging of footsteps neared their group. Goldwell also shrunk in on himself at the unknown presence. A Guardsman Sans recognised rounded the corner, the golly one who had led him to his cell. He’d been around to check on the inmates a few times and though the skeleton hadn’t attempted contact, he seemed like the most chilled out worker here. 

The Guard greeted Shrubberthree with a cheery welcome of, “I heard you’d stopped by, ol’ Flower Power!” 

In response, the plant squeaked happily and hopped off their seat, their roots landing on the damp floor with a slapping sound. The two walked back around the corner, chatting happily together. Sans and Goldwell looked at each other blankly. 

“Shrub knows everyone here. Guards _and_ inmates.” Goldwell said dryly. He leaned to check the old wood he sat on wasn’t dampening his causal suit. Down here, the clothing choice made him look like he was supposed to be Sans’ lawyer. “That’s how we met.”

“Seriously?” Sans questioned, were all of his friends going to reveal that they were ex-convicts? Who was next? Was Papyrus secretly in trouble at some point for a failed assassination plot? Anything crazy sounded plausible at this point. He was less surprised by Goldwell than Grillby. For a monster with almost no magic to speak of, he seemed to have a knack for causing trouble. 

The lizard nodded, “Not long, not much too it. Long enough to decide I’d rather not return.” 

“I’m honoured by the visit then.” Sans replied warmly. 

Goldwell shrugged it off, discomfort in his large pink eyes. “You met The Warden yet?” He hissed under his breath, like the walls might have been listening.  
Beside them, the blanketed monster began quivering. 

Sans gave a short dry laugh, “Gave me a touching welcome.” The skeleton motioned to Goldwell’s tail which hung over the edge of the box, “He give you that?”  
The monster in question glanced at the zig-zag shaped limb. It might have looked naturally shaped that way, had there not been badly healed lumps and uneven scales from multiple breaks. “Nah, that was just before. Some stupid monsters try’na pick a fight.” He sighed, “I guess the few days spent in here put things into perspective, made me regretful of some things. I’ve changed since then. Regrets are for the weak who can’t come to terms with what they really want. The ones too scared to push deserve nothing at all.” He said darkly. 

To say Sans hadn’t been expecting his gritty ideology was an understatement. “That’s, urm, quite the statement. Makes you sound like a pretty determined guy.” Sans replied, hoping Goldwell didn’t notice his unease. Sans stealthily glanced down at the monster’s soul. Difficult, the lifeforce being small and dim, quite like his own. Dark rings of once repressed emotion ran within, though thanks to Goldwell’s almost non-existent magic field, their effect could barely be felt.

“I suppose I am.” Goldwell said in a thoughtful tone. 

A patter of footsteps distracted them both from the odd shift in mood. 

“Oh, and these are my good friends Goldwell and Sans, come show them!” Shrubberthree cheerily chatted. 

The Guard, a giant compared to the little plant creature, clutched a tiny paper in his hand. He leaned down over Goldwell, who flinched, looking suddenly terrified. “Hoho! Yes, see here. My beautiful wife and wonderful little ones!” He said in a deep but bouncy voice.

Depicted in the photograph was the Guardsman, in casual wear (without the helmet, Sans somewhat recognised him from around Hotland). Beside him was his wife, petite and at least half his size. She was a fire monster of some description, probably distantly related to Grillby’s family, a thin pinkish glow of flame wisped here and there. In the pictured Guard’s arms were two squirming things. They were a cross breed of both parent’s species. Their body shapes resembled his, while they were covered head to toe in curling flames. If it wasn’t for the playfully grinning faces both children made, Sans would have assumed they were in the process of burning to death. 

“Aww, look at ‘um!” Sans cooed, smiling up at the Guardsman who glowed with pride and warmth for his little family. 

“Y-yeah.” Goldwell murmured. 

He pointed to each child, “This is Cracerandor and this is Spug.” Suddenly he pulled back, giving Goldwell an apologetic look through the slit in his helmet. “Sorry, my friend, was I crowding you? My wife says I’m terrible for remembering personal space.” He pulled back and patted Goldwell on the head as if he were a dog. 

Though it was clearly meant in comfort and not at all in a degrading way, Sans breath froze in his chest. As he was patted, Goldwell’s eyes turned to menacing slits while his mouth curled into an aggressive snarl, long misshapen fangs protruding. Sans expected to next see the lizard sink his teeth into the armoured fingers of the friendly jailer. 

Thankfully, this was not the case and just as quick as the look appeared on the monster’s face, it had slid away. By the group’s reactions, Sans seemed to be the only one to notice this. Clearly, Goldwell, wasn’t the touchy sort. Returning to his duties, Sans and Shrubberthree bid the Guard farewell. With him gone and Shrub clambering back up to the lizard’s side, Goldwell immediately looked calmer. 

“Oh! We mustn’t forget.” Shrubberthree squeaked. They leaned in close to Sans, “Don’t tell anyone, but we got you something. It’s small, but it has to be- don’t want you to get in trouble.” One of their flower heads glanced to Goldwell who fished into his pocket and pulled out a small glass flask. A cork in the top, it held about two shots worth of liquid in a greenish brown colour. It looked like a herbal tea. 

“Seriously guys? You shouldn’t have.” Sans said as the gift was passed to him through the bars. “…What is it?”

The plant monster giggled, “It’s my home-grown blend! Trust me, nothing beats it for relaxing. Take it all in one go for the best results.”

“And you won’t wake up for the rest of the day.” Goldwell chipped in. 

This sounded ideal. Truly grateful for their kindness, the skeleton hid the drink within his pocket. “Wow, how could you have known? Ya must be very _gifted_ at understanding people.” He said jokingly wistful. 

Shrub let lose another quiet giggle. “I visit here enough. You’ll want to rip a little hole in your bed to hide it in. When its finished just roll it out into the walkway, they’ll just think a visitor left some litter. They haven’t figured it out yet, I’m sure they won’t. You’ll be fine.” 

“Best of the bunch, you are, Shrub.” Sans grinned. 

 

His visitors were moved out not long after. It took some effort but Sans managed to rip an opening in the old mattress. The vial was slid inside, safe and out of sight. It would be saved for when it was truly needed. For now, he was in higher spirits, despite Gold’s recount of the unease back in town. Sans worried whether Papyrus was doing ok, hopefully he was spending time with Undyne. 

Sans would see him soon. It was now day five of his stay in here and each second carried him closer to the end of the week. _Just one week._


	28. Pale bone

Thud.

_Thud._

_THUD!_

Papyrus kicked open his front door and marched hastily to the back of his house. Someone- one of the local children no doubt, was pelting his windows with snowballs. At first, he’d laughed it off and ignored it- but they kept coming. The monster in question was persistent. It wasn’t until the noise became deafening thanks to stones being added to the snowy mix that the skeleton lost his cool. 

It was late evening; the fake sun had flickered out over an hour ago and the street lamps failed to illuminate the trees behind Papyrus’s house. 

“Come out now, and maybe I won’t tell your parents.” The skeleton warned into the shadowed shapes of the trees. 

He was met with only quiet, the rushing of the nearby river filled the quiet evening. Nobody had scampered off when Papyrus had appeared, so they must still be here.

Then, something moved in the trees, pale enough that the light caught it. It slid near silently, deeper into the foliage. 

Impulsively, he pursued. Without a light on him, Papyrus waded into the dark. It wasn’t at all wise to venture into the woods while it was dark, even this close to town. Still, the chances of encountering a dangerous forest dweller was highly unlikely. 

“Don’t you know it’s rude to-.” A tree root caused him to stumble, at the same time another movement caught his eye. It stepped further into the darkness.

He knew better than to follow a mysterious figure into the dusky trees, Sans would have a heart attack if he knew what his brother was up to. The figure popped in and out of sight, leading the way. They seemed in no rush, encouraging him forward.

The pair traversed the bend of the river, dark enough now that Papyrus was feeling around for unseen tree branches to avoid being hit. Suddenly, it wasn’t a branch which hit him, but a thought. 

In a moment of clarity, Papyrus remembered the threat he’d received in the post. 

Fear embraced him head to foot. A few dumb snowballs and he’d allowed himself to be led away from town. 

Papyrus called his magic to take shape in his hand. Arming himself with a long bone shape weapon. The glow it emitted dimly lit a few feet around him. Banning the fear from his voice, the monster spoke firmly, “That’s far enough. Either leave, show yourself, or I’ll be returning home.”

Eyes squinting into the darkness, trying to pick out any movement while he listened for anything dissimilar to the nearby river. A silhouetted shape, once assumed to be part of the plant life, moved. 

As it slunk closer, Papyrus could feel the magic on the tips of his fingers, raring to be used. 

The light from his attack caught against the distinct pale of bone. A skull with a crack running down one side. Dark body, black in the night with long bony fingers tipped with claws. 

Papyrus held his breath as the figure closed in, slowly and near precisely moving through the undergrowth. 

Wait. He recognised this creature. “Witti? Is that you?” 

With a hiss, they moved properly into the light. “Hello, Papyrus.” The wendigo said in the same raspy voice he remembered. 

Letting out a sigh of relief, Papyrus lowered his weapon into a less threatening stance. “How, urr, nice to see you once again, even under such strange circumstances.” The young monster had remembered him, how touching! “How have you been? Aren’t you cold?”

“I am fine.” The forest dweller replied with an annoyed snort, “One of my siblings bested me in combat. They took my jumper as their prize.” 

“Oh…” Papyrus grimaced. He looked for a way to lighten the mood. “How is your friend? What’s his name? Crackle?” 

“Crawler?” 

“Ah, yes! Crawler, how could I forget such a… delightful monster?” Papyrus oh so fondly remembered the sickly skinned, naked thing. It’s melted face, vile shrieks and corpse smell.

Witti absentmindedly picked at their claws. “Crawler became injured. It was no use to us anymore. Dad ate it.” The monster said without care.

“Goodness! My… condolences.” Cringing, Papyrus remembered him and the dogs nearly cleaving one of the creature’s legs off. Hopefully it hadn’t been them which caused its inevitable demise. Oops. 

Witti just shrugged in response. 

The sound of a branch breaking underfoot made them both flinch. A second figure stumbled into view. They stood back, not getting too close. It took Papyrus a moment to recognise them. It was the strange armless being, wrapped in a thick coat, made of fur and bits of leaf litter. They reminded Papyrus of a tall bagworm stood on two feet. Was the fur coat part of the monster or a strange item of clothing?

Witti sighed at their presence which the other replied with a small cough. 

Papyrus gave a pleasant wave. The strange monster returned to him a nod. 

The half skeleton looked back to Papyrus. “We wanted to talk to you.” 

“I could tell. There are better ways of telling me you’d like to chat, than nearly smashing my windows!” Papyrus said in a scolding tone, “I have a door you can knock, you know?”

The monster in question shook their head, “Dad can smell when anyone has been in town. And you never know what these town bastards will do.” Witti said, giving something of a protective glance to their friend who also appeared to dislike the idea of entering someone’s house.

Papyrus sighed, “So, what did you need me for?” Despite his desire for sleep, Papyrus was secretly glad the two had chosen to call on him.

“One of _you lot_ are bringing people into our territory!” The wendigo hissed. “A short loud one. They insist on disturbing us. Dad was forced to intervene recently. He made one of them eat another in the group. Thought it’d scare them off for good, but they were back the next day!” They thrashed their tail in frustration, baring long teeth from under their mask-like skull. 

“Oh. Him.” Papyrus almost face palmed. 

“We want them out!” The youngster snarled, their eyes flashing pale yellow in anger.

Patiently, the figure who watched on from nearby coughed lightly. Witti breathed deeply, calming themselves. 

Sinking the magic weapon into the ground to stand more casually, Papyrus replied, “It may surprise you that the issue has bothered me also. Though I have thankfully not relied on such violent tactics. I in fact left a rather damning comment on the tour’s Undernet page. I’ll have you know it received over twenty likes and seven comments, last time I looked! Which stands to date as the most popular thing I’ve ever posted online.” He said with pride. 

The strange figure hummed and nodded, impressed by the skeleton’s achievement. 

Witti just looked confused. “So, you’ve tried to make them stop?” They received a nod from Papyrus. “Then try again! Clearly a firmer hand must be used.”

Papyrus rolled his eyes, “Well I can’t just go and bite his head off, can I?!” 

“I don’t see why not.” Witti replied simply.

“I’m more civilised than that, thank you. I’ll leave another comment, hopefully those who liked my original message will support me in stopping Goldwell’s tours.” It wasn’t like Papyrus knew where the lizard monster lived. He wasn’t prepared to march up and speak his mind while tour guide was with a group, that would be silly, even by his standards. 

“That’s a stupid name.” 

Papyrus laughed, “Really? Well apparently, his first name is ‘Algringtonsly’.”

Witty shrugged, “That’s not so bad.” 

“Seriously?” 

The watching figure actually giggled at that. A soft sound, not at all like their friend’s gritty voice. When Papyrus turned his gaze to them in surprise, the noise was abruptly cut off. 

Seeing the end of their conversation, Papyrus changed the subject. “How did you get that, Witti? It looks quite nasty.” He indicated to the crack running down the monster’s skull by pointing at his own. 

It ran down from the base of the horn to the corner of their eye. Witti, itched at it, turning their head away to shield Papyrus’s view of the crack. “Just hit m’ head.” They mumbled, possibly embarrassed by the damage. 

A louder cough came from behind. The looming figure looked at Witti before motioning to Papyrus. They seemed suddenly serious, as if the skeleton’s observation had sparked a thought. 

Witti frowned in confusion, “What?” 

The figure cautiously scooted closer, shuffling nervously. “Say it. Say what happened.” They spoke. Very quiet, hardly a whisper. There was a mature feminine sound to it. Was this monster an older sister to Witti? Their mother?... Papyrus hoped not, remembering how the young monster’s father was about twenty feet tall. They looked like quite different species, too. 

At her words, Witti huffed, “Dunno what happened. Fell asleep standing or somethin’.” They said dismissively.

“Tell him what’s been… going on.” She spoke again. Seeing no aggression from Papyrus at her words, she took another few steps closer, becoming clearer in the dim light. Between layers of her fur stood two sharp eyes, dull in colour but carrying a power in them. The monster was very subdued despite their nerves, the skeleton was unable to pick up on her magic field. 

Witti’s tail swished, debating whether to tell the town dweller potential information on their lives. One more sharp look from their friend and they relented. “Monsters have been going weird. Strange eyes. Strange feel to ‘um. Like they’re falling asleep with their eyes open. They talk sometimes, its freaky… My folks say I’ve done it a few times. I don’t remember though.” They mumbled the end, like Witti didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.

This instantly caught the skeleton’s attention. “R-really? Anyone blanking out and waking up somewhere they didn’t expect?” 

Both monsters shook their heads. 

“No, just ‘weird sleeping’ for a few minutes.” Witti informed. “Why?”

“It’s not just the forest folk doing that.” Papyrus replied, thinking hard. With what Alphys had been saying, alongside what he’d seen from the monster child the other day, Papyrus could only assume these were connected. When he really thought about it, he’d seen the occasional passer-by with a pale, blank expression, but paid them any further mind. Sometimes he would wave and call greetings to people, they would stand unmoving and passive, despite how they usually called back. Maybe they just hadn’t heard him, right? 

When he really considered it, these instances were more frequent than Papyrus had realised. Most worryingly, he suspected they increased slowly over time.   
People were just like that sometimes, right? Coincidence? His memory? Papyrus of course, had an excellent memory and an unmatched eye for detail, he could spot a connection a mile away. 

If people were blacking out for a few minutes at a time before waking, with no memory of the event, it would go completely undocumented, unless those around them took note. Something like that could be put down to lots of minor things, it wasn’t necessarily a big deal, like Alphys had said. The strange whispering though, was odd. This contrasted what Sans and Honey had said- blacking out and waking after a longer time, somewhere unexpected. 

Was this the same thing? It certainly seemed different. For now, Papyrus catalogued the occurrences as two different things. When he returned home, he would jot down his thoughts. 

“I-is it bad?” Witti asked nervously. 

Papyrus shook his head, “I do not know. I’ve been looking for information but it appears elusive. If anything unusual happens, in accordance with the phenomenon, do let me know?” 

Witti nodded. 

Turning directly to Witti’s friend, Papyrus nodded, “Thank you.” He said sincerely. 

She nodded back, saying nothing more. The patient monster was much more relaxed now, the skeleton’s presence no longer a threat.

With no more to discuss, the group departed not long after. Witti and the other disappearing into the darkness almost soundlessly while Papyrus stumbled through the woods towards home. An interesting meeting and one not at all expected. 

Papyrus decided to delay his bedtime once again in favour of documenting what he had heard as well as possible explanations and theories. Of course, he wouldn’t stay up too late, he had firmly learnt his lesson on that subject. 

He returned home, finding the house as he left it, warm and inviting.

 

Day six. One day left. Sans could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of leaving this hellhole; mostly because he could barely contain his boredom. He was cold and tired and just wanted out. 

Grillby had joined him again today. Apparently, his absence yesterday had been caused by denial of entry. Sans had already received visitors that day and the Guards were being picky. There was nothing in the rules about multiple visitors, but his captors made the rules as they went. Unfortunately, they happened to not be the nicest of monsters. It annoyed Sans that his friend’s time had been wasted in traveling so far for nothing. Grillby didn’t seem to mind, though Sans was fairly sure he had been angered by the mistreatment at the time. 

Sans talked freely about the first things he’d do when he arrived home. He had his whole day planned, as well as the next, making the most of being lazy in a much more comfortable setting than here… not that his laziness was a choice in here, but rather imposed on him. If it had been Papyrus stuck in here, Sans was sure his brother would have by now, lost his mind. 

Grillby said very little as Sans reeled off his freedom fantasies, letting the skeleton just aimlessly talk. Meanwhile, the Temmie napped peacefully while the neighbouring blanket rose and fell with deep steady breaths. A comparatively warmer, calm afternoon, thanks to the flame monster. 

It wasn’t until Grillby adjusted his thick overcoat that Sans noticed a craggy flameless patch across his neck. Recognising it as an injury, Sans quickly checked his friend’s HP. 

“Woa, Grillbz, someone get nasty or something?” Sans asked, concerned. The damage wasn’t bad but none the less there. 

Of course, not being one to like attention, the elemental readjusted his coat to cover the injury. ‘No. The journey here can be wet.’ He said, an uncomfortable edge to his mentally projected voice. 

Sans frowned. Of course, he’d have to walk through Waterfall to get here. The route hadn’t crossed the skeleton’s mind until now. “Ya don’t have to put yourself out for me. No need visiting if you’re risking a burn out.” He said, uncomfortable with the idea that Grillby was chancing serious harm by visiting.

Shaking his head, Grillby replied, ‘It has yet to be impassable. The streams have not flowed too deep, nor has the rain been troublesome.’ 

The volume of water in Waterfall depended on the rainfall above on the surface. If the weather above was particularly rainy, the pathways and streams below became fast flowing rivers. The lower parts prone to flooding. Monsters caught in the flow could be washed away with ease. For this reason, housing in the area was scarce. That was at its most extreme, but the paths could still gather a substantial amount of water. 

“It’s your decision but look after yourself, ok? It’s been _ice_ to see you every day, but you can _water-way_ if it’s too bad. I won’t mind.” 

‘Worry not, I’ll be sensible.’ Grillby reassured. 

Sans hoped he would be. His species were powerful creatures with a near endless lifespan, however under the right conditions, their flames were quick to extinguish. It made Sans wonder how Grillby had gotten on during his stay in the jail. Surely the damp conditions and lack of free-flowing air down here could be hugely detrimental to his health. 

The skeleton nodded and dropped the subject for the sake of the other’s comfort. 

Grillby had reassured Sans that his brother was coping better in the last few days. Hopefully Papyrus would visit again soon. Sans didn’t know how to apologise without making it sound empty and unhelpful. With any luck, his brother was constructing a flawless case in order to prove Sans’ innocence… If that was possible.   
He could only hope Papyrus kept his courage, wherever he was. 

 

Waterfall was noticeably wetter today, raindrops pattered down from the cavern ceiling, filling the lumpy road with puddles. Papyrus skipped from stone to stone avoiding the wettest parts. 

Today, he was finally meeting with Undyne, after not speaking for nearly a week. The message he’d sent requesting the meeting had been hastily replied to. A good sign at least. Papyrus had sent his reports to her well before their due date, as usual and completed all of his usual duties, so she shouldn’t have anything negative to say to him at least… unless it regarded his handling of the incident in Snowdin several days previous. 

He pressed on through the muddy pathways and over steep ledges to reach his favourite shortcuts. 

Undyne’s house was the same as usual; with the addition of a larger crack on the side of the building, from the door being thrown open with too much force. Papyrus was a churning mix of emotions. Still, he felt confident in his work and his abilities as a good friend. 

Ready to face Undyne again, he steeled himself and lifted a hand to knock her door. 

_BAM!_

The door swung open before he had chance. Not expecting the sudden movement, it bashed into Papyrus, sending him stumbling back with a yelp. 

A figure rushed him before he was able to recover.

“Papyrus!” The Captain yelled as she threw her arms around the skeleton in a cold crushing grip. 

With a squeak of mild terror, he was lifted off his feet and spun around before being promptly dropped. Papyrus stumbled but carefully caught himself as a grinning Undyne bared down on him. 

“H-hello to you too, Undyne.” Papyrus stammered, fixing himself. Really, he should have expected a greeting like that, somehow, he hadn’t been. Proof his mind had been focused solely on the matter at hand.

Undyne’s grin faded quickly, an apologetic look on her face. “Oh. S-sorry, are you still mad at me? I shouldn’t have-.” 

Papyrus raised his hands to stop her, “Does that mean you missed me?” He asked, with a smile. 

Instantly, the hugging recommenced, Papyrus a little more prepared to get crushed this time. Her tough armour made things somewhat uncomfortable but it was still greatly reassuring to know that no ill feelings were harboured. “Sorry I blamed you. I knew it was just your- our job but…” 

“And I was probably a little harsh.” Undyne conceded, “Shouldn’t have made you take him yourself. I didn’t think it through. 

Papyrus chuckled, “Hmm, maybe. Shall we get something to drink?” 

Undyne let go once again, not appearing to notice how Papyrus stumbled as he dropped. “We’re going to get cake.” She announced in a commanding voice. 

“Cake?” 

“Cake.” Undyne confirmed. 

 

The pair made their way down the long sloping paths towards the lower corners of Waterfall. A little home run café was situated by a cliffs edge, overlooking a large blue pool. A place frequented regularly by Guardsmen especially. Papyrus had visited a few times. 

A few squirrels skittered around the branches of a tree as they passed. Papyrus spoke with seriousness in his voice, “I have collected further evidence. It is rather puzzling, but I believe that Sans has been framed for these murders.” 

“Let’s hear it.” Undyne replied in an almost enthusiastic way. There was no hint of mockery or disappointment that he couldn’t accept his brother’s fate, as Papyrus might have thought. 

Papyrus explained all that had happened over the last few days. His chat with Grillby who had confirmed Sans’ confession. The note found in his letterbox, addressed to both brothers. The connection with Honey’s blackout and how in both instances a monster had died. Sans’ lack of motive for all three of the murders. And of course, the integral piece of information the bug monster was about to deliver to Papyrus when she was stopped- something Sans didn’t even know about at the time. 

Undyne threw in the occasional question which Papyrus answered with fact or educated guesswork. The talk was lengthy and brought them all the way to the café house at the far corner of Waterfall. 

The place was pleasantly decorated with different cheerful colours on each wall. Covered with posters, bunting and paintings. Interesting objects sat upon every surface and hung from the ceiling. Some things Papyrus recognised, others he did not, all were collected from the dump and refurbished by the family. A few Guardsmen waved to their Captain in greeting. 

The pair took a seat with a drink and slice of cake each. 

“That’s a lot of thinkin’ you’ve done there, Pap.” Undyne smiled. She sounded impressed. 

Papyrus beamed at her apparent compliment, “Well, it has taken a few sleepless nights to piece together.”

She nodded, staring into her drink, deep in thought. Undyne remained that way for a few minutes, going over what had been explained and deciding what to do next. Eventually, she met Papyrus’s eye, “How about I pay him a visit? See if there’s anything else he can tell me.” She suggested. 

That would be wonderful! W-would you like me to accompany you?” Papyrus offered.

Undyne shook her head. “He might feel less pressured if it’s just me.” When Papyrus gave her a questioning look, Undyne barked with laughter, “Don’t worry, I won’t be mean.” 

“I should think not.” Papyrus said in a mock disgusted tone, taking a sip of his tea. 

“I’ve been talking to Toriel, about this whole thing.” Undyne added, “Don’t bother payin’ her a visit. Even though he’d ya brother, she won’t pass on anything she knows about his situation. It’s kinda her job not to talk, but don’t worry, we’ve been chatting. Undyne added in.

“Really? Thank you!” Papyrus smiled, thankful for her honesty. At least Toriel knew about Sans’ situation, they were good friends after all. “You’ll keep me up to date, won’t you?”

“Much as I can, Pap.”

With that decision made, there was a pause in the chatter. Something else quickly sprung into Papyrus’s mind. “Oh, I paid Alphys a visit yesterday, she’s certainly working hard!” 

Undyne stilled, her single yellow eye flashing up to meet him. “She seem ok?” The warrior asked.

“Sort of. She was rather distant with me but very focused on her work.” Papyrus said.

Nodding, Undyne sighed, “Ya know how she gets when she’s got a plan. Suddenly turns into a different monster, don’t see her for weeks.” There was worry in her voice. 

“You think she’s alright?” Papyrus asked carefully. 

Undyne stalled, frowning as she chose her answer. “I guess it’s just stress. The Queens given her a pretty big task sheet, not science stuff- staffing plans and getting the place ready to have workers again.” She glanced out of the window. “Ya know, all paperwork and cleaning. I know everyone hates that stuff, especially Alph. I’ve been helping here and there, even Sans has been helping… She could just hire someone to do it for her, the paperwork too. Finances and future planning aren’t her thing. But she just won’t ask for help.” Undyne sighed, looking somewhere between frustrated and desperate. “Maybe she thinks that because she’s the Royal Scientist, she’s supposed to be all knowing. I think it’s likely just her nerves. She’s always been paranoid of anyone going downstairs in that place. She can’t just ignore this one, like all the other mail she gets. I’ve tried to insist that this is _the Queen_ who wants it done, she can’t just throw Toriel’s letters in the trash!” 

Papyrus sat quietly, not having enough experience in any area of discussion to properly make suggestions. 

Undyne continued, “So, Alph’s been kinda ghosting me. Won’t let me in the lab, keeps making excuses, won’t even open the door now. She refuses to leave. We only speak over the phone, not in person. She’s been like this for over a week.”

“Are you worried about her?” Papyrus asked, already knowing the answer. There were very few things which bothered Undyne. Alphys was a monster most dear to her. 

She hesitated but eventually nodded. 

Papyrus smiled in reassurance, “I’m sure when she’s tired of her current project, she’ll return to normal. Alphys is very hard at work, looks like she’s been living in one of her lab rooms. She absolutely wasn’t working on anything potentially illegal.” 

Undyne ignored his last comment, continuing to cringe down at the table. “There isn’t even supposed _to be_ a project though. Alph’s research is on hold while the lab’s under construction.” The words were contemplative and airy. The Captain shook her head. 

“She’s very dedicated.” Papyrus smiled, “You can rest assured that she’s taking care of herself.” He hoped his words were as true as he made them sound.

Undyne finally looked up, she smiled, though it was clearly forced. “Yeah, ya right. She’s busy and stressed like everyone and once she’s done, she’ll be back to normal.” The words were said to convince herself. “It’s been really weird not having either of you to talk to. Glad I got ya back, Pap.” 

“You too.” He grinned.

Papyrus changed the subject quickly. They talked nonsense for a while, the topics light, making both monsters laugh. 

He’d missed this, and it only served to tell how strong their friendship was. 

As Papyrus left her that afternoon, it was like nothing had ever happened between the friends.

 

Day seven. Since Grillby had left the previous day, Sans had tried to sleep. He’d tossed and turned on the scrappy mattress, only stopping to survey the meal pushed under his door. A plate of mashed potato. Basically, just thick porridge on a plate instead of a bowl? No thanks, he wasn’t desperate enough for that. 

All presumed night, he had continued to not sleep. The morning only conveyed by the food trolley making another appearance. The avian Guard glared down her beak between Sans and his unfinished meal. They turned and left, without collecting the old tray or giving out anymore fresh garbage. 

Fine. Sans didn’t care. He would surely be out of here today. That was what he was betting on. 

Finally, he fell asleep around what he suspected was midday. 

“Sans.” 

“Hey, Sans!” 

He sat up with a start, a figure looming over on the other side of the bars. 

Blinking, Sans was surprised to see the last monster he expected. “Alphys?”

The Scientist smiled, looking like she was on her last nerves. Her eyes were dark and sleepless, movements equally sluggish and nervous. It was like this place was draining the life out of her; Sans was more than amazed she had even considered visiting. 

“H-hi, Sans. Sorry to wake you.” She said. 

Sans sat up, wiping his eyes. He felt dizzy, so not much sleep was had after all. “Can’t believe ya here! Anyone with you?”   
She shook her head. 

Sans was left even more stunned. What on earth was going on that Alphys had shown up somewhere even the fearless Undyne hated stepping? He pointed to the crate pushed against the tunnel end, “Seat there, if you want it?” 

Again, she shook her head. “N-no thanks.” Opting to stand instead, awkwardly fidgeting.

“You ok?”

“I n-need to show you something.” Alphys said hurriedly. She flicked open a bag by her side and pulled out a set of papers. They were hastily crammed through the bars. “I’ve been working on that… thing I’ve been talking about. It’s big- it’s bigger t-than anything I’d imagined.” 

Flicking through the papers, Sans could barely understand a single word. They appeared blurred to him, distorted. They showed graphs, short scribbles of text and annotations He handed them back, “dunno if it’s the light, but I can’t read any of this.” 

“O-oh right. I guess there’s only so much y-you can see right now.” She mumbled.

Sans’ confusion was growing by the second, “What do you mean? Who’s ‘he’?” 

Alphys frowned, “Well, I c-can’t tell you much, or you w-won’t remember. I think he wants you t-to know, to come back and help me… Sorry. I figured it all out, all of the clues I told you about. I c-can explain if you want? Little bit at a t-time and the information sticks in your head.”

Shrugging, Sans blinked away his sleepiness, “Sure, yeah, fine. Explain it again.” 

The Scientist proceeded to go on a lightspeed rant of every aspect of her investigation. Each theory, every experiment. Sans remembered most of it. What started to concern him was her references to ‘him’, a mysterious somebody who had been guiding Alphys with a breadcrumb trail of clues.   
“When I realised it was a s-single person, I didn’t know what to think. Then, since I’d b-been training myself not to forget, I could remember his name.” Alphys spoke quickly. “I think that’s w-what made me get his attention. Since t-then he’s been giving me hints. I still don’t know what we’re working towards, or what his goal is. I think he wants you o-on board though.”

Sans held up a hand to stop her, “Just wait. Lemme catch up,- who is ‘he’?” 

She glanced around her and leaned in closer. “The old Royal Scientist.” 

Sitting back, Sans gave her an odd look. “Why did that need to be whispered?” 

Alphys looked flustered once more, “I-I don’t know. I guess I d-don’t want people knowing.” 

“You’ve been practically shouting this whole time, I bet everyone knows by now.” Sans pointed out. 

“TEM NOWS!” The catlike creature squeaked from their cage, making Alphys startle.

“No one cares, Temmie.” Sans groaned. “Alph, I don’t even remember our old boss. You sure it’s him?” 

“Of course you don’t, that’s t-the point!” She said, seemingly annoyed that Sans wasn’t catching onto what she was saying. “He’s gone from history BUT not entirely erased. He’s s-still existing somewhere, though presumably not in a form we remember, not quite a monster any longer. I can’t tell you any more about him, I d-don’t want you to forget we had this conversation.” 

Sans’ head was hurting and something inside told him he was better off asleep. Still, he took in as much of the information his head could handle, having not expected to be tackling a subject quite like this one today. “Not to be the guy to remind you that ya not even supposed to be focused on research right now- per Toriel’s request. What’s this guy been getting you to do?” Sans asked sceptically.

She met him with a hurt look, but answered anyway. “I’ve b-been going through old files, seeing what could have led to him getting sealed away o-or pushed out of our world or whatever. They keep leading me to some pretty, umm, serious stuff. There’s a point where all the files just… stop. In the middle of studies and whatever tests we were doing, on almost the s-same date, all research just ends.” 

Meeting her eye with a grim look, Sans asked, “By any chance, was it when everyone left?” He could barely recall his final day at the lab, all he could remember was the intense fear which prompted him to leave early, grab Papyrus and journey all the way down to Snowdin at the other end of the cavern. 

Alphys confirmed his suspicions with a nod. She leaned in once more to whisper, “They’d been experimenting with Determination and the human s-souls.” The lizard gave a humourless laugh, “Wasn’t just me making bad decisions with the stuff, I think whoever was w-working on it forgot to bring their morals to w-work on those days.” 

A chill ran through the skeleton. “You’ve only been reading about that stuff, right?” 

She awkwardly itched around the neckline of her shirt. “He has been giving me a few ideas. I think he’d like me to continue his experiments or something, but…” She trailed off before smiling, a thought popping into her head, “I think I figured out why Flowey’s dust is weird. I was comparing with ‘his’ notes, and remember I s-said I couldn’t see how Flowey would be dead b-because of the Determination still active in his dust? Well I think it’s because anything with Determination in it, is not only incapable of dying, but rather in an alternate state of being- it’s not alive nor dead. That’s why we can’t kill my ‘friends’ downstairs, why Flowey’s cells a-are alive, even if they’re useless dust and why _he_ is still around somewhere. They should be dead- the Determination is working, we’re just flawed, being monsters unable t-to tolerate its effect. If we could find a way of applying it…  
There is a machine in the basement. He built it. I-I have some ideas but I think I need your help getting it running since you worked closest with him-.” Her rambling ideas were cut short.

“No.” Sans stopped her with a stern voice. “You promised not to look at that stuff again. Remember what I said about it always getting someone hurt? No one remembers the old Scientist- I sure as hell don’t, and maybe that’s for the best. Maybe that isn’t something we should be digging up.” 

The hurt look returned to Alphys’ face. “Please, Sans. I’ve learned f-from-.” 

Sans gripped hard onto the bars between them. “I completed my half of the deal. I’ve written as much as I can remember about every timeline. I’ll give it to you the second I leave… and if I don’t, it’s on the computer in my basement.” He sighed, not knowing how to get the message across to Alphys without upsetting her. Surely, she should be the most aware of how potentially destructive Determination could be. He had a right to be angered by her blindness. Realistically, it had been Alphys creating Flowey which had begun the worst years of his life. Not that he’d ever tell her that.  
“Please don’t touch that stuff. Any of it.” Sans begged. 

Alphys regarded him with an odd look. Like there was something blocking the words from having impact. “I w-won’t do anything t-to hurt anyone. I’d never e-experiment on anybody else.” She said in a pleading tone. 

Sans was unsure of the sincerity of her words; he couldn’t imagine her leaving this research half finished. The lights of his eyes dropping away in his seriousness, he stepped back away from the bars, taking a seat on the old wooden box. “Do you have any idea what people infected with that power can do? What they’re like? How long I was stuck in that loop? The human was bad- _but the flower?”_ Sans chuckled at the absurdity of what he was having to explain. “You and everyone else should be thankful you don’t remember. So, I don’t care what ideas you have- I don’t even care if that stuff could break the barrier. There is someone out there killing people, framing me and threatening Papyrus. They want that power. So, if you care at all about us, you’ll destroy that stuff, so that no one gets to use it ever again.” Sans said, desperate and deadly serious. 

Alphys shuffled in place. Her tail twitched and lip quivered. She watched Sans in silence. He said nothing, counting the seconds that she stood quivering, in which he held her uncomfortable gaze. 

The papers were messily shoved back into her bag. “I- I’ll go.” She sniffled, turning to leave. 

Sans said nothing more as he watched her disappear around the tunnels bend. This time, he didn’t feel so bad about upsetting her. If she truly was considering reopening her Determination research then Sans had every right to be angry. 

If Alphys wasn’t prepared to rid of that foul stuff, then Sans would, as soon as he got out of here. 

Hopefully Grillby would stop by later or better yet, he could be released. Until then, Sans decided he would sit brooding in the gloomy darkness.


	29. Spider's web

Day eight. No one had come to collect him. 

Sans felt the worst he had since his first forty-eight hours in this dump. It was like the cycle of denial had begun anew, the hopefulness he’d experienced at reaching the end of the week had been crushed. With it, the worrying had restarted. 

Alphys’ words and worn out appearance refused to leave his mind. Had he been too harsh? She looked unwell. Had Sans unintentionally made things worse? He thought a lot about Papyrus and his investigation. Sans had the creeping feeling that time was running out for the case. The killer would surely strike again and if Papyrus was a threat, he could be next. Honey had known her killer, after all. 

The mixing of these invasive thoughts made Sans realise a few things. It had now been nearly four months since the human left them. Four months since his fight to the death with them and four months since their timeline was last tampered with. 

Sans was starting to feel like he had a life again. Sure, he wasn’t doing anything with it and things weren’t exactly going to plan AND he might have been living vicariously through his brother’s adventures BUT Sans at least felt like the world around him was moving once more, even if he wasn’t. 

That needed to be preserved at all costs. Not wholly for his sake, but for everyone else’s. While he was unable to stop anyone with the power of Determination, he could absolutely interfere with those wishing to gain it. 

But who could that be? He hadn’t a clue who could have commit those crimes (aside from himself, apparently), neither could he keep an eye on his brother’s safety from down here. Right now, Sans was useless. 

Or rather, more useless than usual. 

It had been Cloudnine who brought up human souls and the Reset phenomenon, during his last night of freedom. Sans had also observed that concealed darkness in their soul… but was it really that little guy? Sure, they had ties to Egg in some way, the two had been friends, with Cloud greatly upset by his death. Was that enough reason to kill? Sans couldn’t imagine the fluffy little guy plotting out a scheme such as this. However, he’d been wrong about people’s intentions before.

Footsteps shook him from his thoughts. As two Guardsmen approached, Sans’ hope came flooding back. 

He stood quickly, “A-am I leaving?” He blurted out. 

One of the pair gave a snide laugh. The hopefulness left the skeleton as quick as it had been regained. 

The second of the pair was the jolly Guard he had come to know. “Apologies my friend, it is not quite time for that. You have a visitor!” He said in his deep upbeat speak. 

A visitor was something. Hopefully Papyrus was there so Sans could at least apologise. 

He was led away by a much gentler hand than his previous outing. The main hub area was the busiest he’d seen it. Monsters pushed their way through the web of tunnels. Sans’ eye caught the glare of his least favourite monster down here. The Warden loomed in a corner, surveying the chaotic atmosphere. His red eyed gaze one of hatred. Sans wondered how he hadn’t ended up in a cell of his own down here. 

They left the space, traveling across to the furbished interview rooms, the sharp electric lighting was uncomfortable on his eyes. 

A door creaked open and Sans was prompted to step inside. A click followed, locking him in. The same set up as previous, a bench with bars separating him from the other side of the room. This time a flash of silver and red caught his attention. Undyne slouched on her bench, arms resting on the metal table before her. 

Sans grinned as he caught her eye, “Knew you’d miss me.” For once, he was grateful for her presence. 

She grinned back, tiredness marking her features. What the heck was going on that made everyone look so damn tired?!  
“Heh, always. About damn time you showed up. Been waiting here half my life.” She greeted. The words lacked their usual bite. 

“I thought you’d be given an express ticket, considering it’s your people running this joint.” Sans replied in good humour. 

Undyne gave a loud laugh, “I wish!” 

Sans hummed before changing the subject, “You good? Is Papyrus good?” 

She smirked, “Yeah, he’s fine. Think you scared him the other day. Thankfully your ‘boyfriend’ cleared things up.” 

“When can I go home?” He dared to ask.

Undyne looked to the ceiling with an exaggerated thoughtful expression. She hummed loudly before answering, “Dunno mate. Hard to say. Papyrus has got some good evidence to support your ‘innocence’. But not much can fight your case, from how things look. A court would have to decide I think, unless I can work somethin’ special out.” She replied lazily. “Or until they get tired of looking at you down here.”

“I’d have to go to court?” Sans shuddered at the idea. Really, this shouldn’t have surprised him.

“I’ve been speakin’ to Toriel about that. She thinks she might be able to make an exception for you, thanks to your,” She coughed, _“status.”_

That at least got his hopes up, Sans breathed a sigh of relief. At least someone was looking out for him. Down here, he couldn’t help but feel like everyone had forgotten he existed. “That’s… Well, that’s great.” Sans had been missing his duties as Judge, recently. Being such a consistent thing in his life, it had been very strange to have the responsibility taken away. Hopefully an understanding could be reached that meant he’d finally get his job back.

Undyne rose to her feet, she moved to lean her back on the table, facing Sans. “But we need to be absolutely sure on a few things.” Her voice took on a slightly more serious tone, “I understand your aversion to showing your soul to Pap. But I’m sure ya fine confirming a few things with me, yeah?” 

Sans rolled his eyes. “Since when was it made standard practice to have to show souls for Guard investigations?” He asked.

“As soon as you became involved.” She grinned in what might have been a friendly manor, had it not been for her long razor-sharp smile and sarcasm. “But we’re friends, right? So, you shouldn’t mind.” 

Didn’t look like he had much choice. Sans looked down at the brace on his wrist, the bone it tightly cut into had turned an off colour, blue under this light. He wanted to itch at it. Could he show his soul with the suppressor on? The look on The Captain’s face gave no time for dawdling. Keeping an eye on the iron band, Sans slowly pulled his soul into being. He braced himself for a shock.

It popped into view before him. The suppressor fizzed with threat but did nothing more. Sans breathed a sigh of relief. 

Undyne’s stare hardened as it had done the first time she had seen his soul. “So ya telling the truth about the murders? You don’t recall being at either scene?” 

Sans nodded, “Near them, apparently. But didn’t know that until after the fact.” 

“Ya not working with anyone or know who the culprit is?” 

“Nope.” Sans said simply. 

The questions turned a different direction, “And it really was Asgore who put you up as the Judge?” 

“Sure was.” Sans confirmed with a fond smile. He missed the old guy, now that it looked like he wasn’t coming back. “But I was taught and trained by someone else. Might have been the old Royal Scientist, I don’t remember for some reason. It was back during my lab days.” 

She narrowed her eyes, “In the Hall, you ever kill anyone who should have been let off?”

“Never.” He said resolutely. 

“Anywhere else, you ever hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it?”

That made him pause. Sans’ eyes slipped from where they locked onto hers. The chill of exposure ran through him, unable to hide, his soul answered for him.  
“Who?” Undyne frowned, seeing straight through him.

Sans struggled to find words. He shouldn’t have been surprised by this, someone was bound to ask eventually. “A few people. That’s all been erased though, all that damage is gone.” 

“You think that excuses it?” Undyne hissed. 

“Yeah- I don’t know… No, it excuses nothing, but trust me it wasn’t just acts of random violence. I’m not the kind of monster my LV suggests I am.” Sans insisted. A familiar tightness inside his ribcage began to creep in as his breath quickened. 

“Can you prove that?”

The skeleton suspected that nothing he could do or say would convince Undyne of all people, of his innocence. “Yes! Can’t you see, I’m telling the truth! I can’t-. I can’t tell you anymore.”

“Why not?!” 

_“Because I just can’t!”_ Sans threatened to lose his composure. “There’s a file documenting all of the timelines. It’s on my computer, in the basement behind my house. If you’re so desperate to know, you can read it.” He hated that this subject overwhelmed him so much. Talk of less pleasant timelines had always set him into a state of vulnerability, regardless of how much Sans readied himself. 

“That’ll answer for you?” She asked, annoyed but not furious. 

“Yeah, yeah.” The words were strained as they left him. 

Undyne fixed him with a steely look.

“You can tell I’m not lying, so lay off!”

She nodded and motioned that he could dismiss his soul. 

The suppressor calmed as the tiny life force was hidden away. Sans tried to still his mild shaking as he awaited her next move. 

Eventually, after some time of staring hard at the floor, Undyne gave a long deep sigh. Her hateful look melted away. “Ya don’t have any idea about any of this, do ya?”

“What? The murders? Not a clue.” Sans huffed. “Wish I did. I’ve been looking.” He tapped at his chest, “Haven’t seen anything weird though.”

Undyne nodded. She pushed off the table to stand. “I believe ya.” The words seemed to almost hurt to say. “I’ll talk to Toriel. See what we can do.”

“Really?” 

Again, she nodded. Undyne moved towards the door. “Ya not one of my favourite monsters, Sans. The more I learn about you, the weirder things get.” She shot him a threatening side glance, “An’ believe me, I’ll need to find out every scrap of information before I can decide whether to trust you or not. But, I can tell you’ve drawn life’s short straw. You haven’t had much control over what happens around you and I can’t judge you for that.” 

There was sincerity behind her words and Sans could only be thankful for her willingness to hear him out. The Captain could have easily disregarded and thrown him to the wolves. Sans had nothing more to add. Undyne was on the way to her own conclusions, the did not want his thanks nor an apology. 

“Hey, Undyne. Alph came to see me yesterday.” Sans quickly interrupted as she pushed the door open. 

The warrior froze before slowly turning her eye back to the skeleton. “Here? Alone?”

Sans threw up his arms in a dramatic shrug. “Yeah, I know right! Weird.”

“She seem ok?” Undyne asked quickly. Quick enough that Sans knew something was wrong. 

He returned an unsure expression. “Kinda off. She’s caught up in a new science project and it’s worrying me a little.” 

Nodding quickly, Undyne held a hand up to stop him. “She’s ok, just working hard. I’m sure it’s just stress.” It sounded like she was having trouble believing her own words. 

“She’s not been talking to you?” 

Undyne shook her head, such a small movement that Sans almost didn’t catch it. 

The skeleton felt anxiety crawl around him, “Pay her a visit if ya can. Uhh, check out what she’s working on, make sure it’s… safe?” Confidentiality aside, Sans was worried his friend’s experiments were becoming less desirable. He wished he could have checked on her himself, but, well. That was rather impossible. 

“If she’ll even let me in.” Undyne tutted. She opened the door. “Thanks, Sans, I’ll be in touch.” 

He wanted to thank her but, with lightning speed, she was gone. 

Alone once more, Sans waited for the Guards to return him back to the dull quiet of his cell. 

 

Sans paced back and forth around his gross furniture. It was evening and Grillby had not long left him. Though it was nice to have some company, his friend’s HP continued to deplete. The trek through Waterfall was taking a toll on his health and Sans could only try to persuade him to take it easy. Hopefully he’d at least take a break tomorrow, Sans had at least made him agree to do that. 

The skeleton had expected an ‘I told you so’, on the subject of being allowed home after a week. A dream which had been foolish to dwell on. Grillby had said barely a word when Sans joked about his mistake. Maybe the flame monster had hoped Sans would be right. 

What the heck was happening outside here? Though he’d been assured Papyrus’s situation had improved, the last Sans had seen him, his brother had stormed away in anger. Grillby couldn’t keep an eye on him. He was also losing time at his business and risking his health by visiting. Undyne looked tired and out of touch and Sans couldn’t begin to list his concerns for Alphys. 

The body count was at three. For now. Sans was more than sure it would continue to increase. 

In here he was totally useless. Yet another day was drawing to a close and Sans had yet to help towards the case. He had to accept that he’d be stuck here for the foreseeable future. If only he had Alphys’ cameras, so he could look through and check on all his friends. Maybe catch the killer in the act. 

If only he could be watching from the shadows without anyone else’s knowledge, like a tiny bug on the wall.

He stopped. Feet frozen to the cold floor. In the cell opposite, Temmie sat watching his movements with a droopy look. 

That was it. Though Sans lacked the ability to sneak around unseen, I knew someone who did. Someone who could have eyes on _everything_. The spiders.

There were no webs down here. No tiny critters he could discreetly pass a message onto. Sans needed to get a message out… But how? 

It wasn’t like he could just take a shortcut to Hotland with this thing on his wrist, right?... Right?

His teleport only took a tiny amount of energy and if manipulating his soul earlier had been allowed, then maybe a passive, non-violent ability would work. Afterall, it was artificial magic. One of the many _many_ reasons that sort of technology had been controversial was the occasional inability to sense when the magic was being used nearby. Could this brace detect it? 

He doubted he could summon his blasters. They were a proper magic weapon which took physical form, not much chance he’d get away with that. But if his teleport could pass for an unaccounted-for neutral ability, he might be in luck. Sans was sure there were no magic blockers outside his cell- not on this block at least. Skeletons were not known for shapeshifting, warping, invisibility or anything which would warrant a special cell.

Sans rolled his shoulders, holding the image in his mind of where he wanted to go. He’d created this ability too weak to teleport outside of the Underground, like he’d intended. This would be time to compensate for that. 

_Three_

Sans closed his eyes

_Two_

It was worth a try, right?

_One_

Besides, what could go wrong?

_Zapp!_

The suppressor angrily buzzed to life. He reeled back, gasping as the static feeling engulfed him. 

Sans opened his eyes and-, “Oh shit, it worked.” 

He stood in Hotlands interior, inside the large multi-story complex at its centre. Fairly high up, Sans moved to the windows before him. Lava bubbled peacefully below, the soft oranges and reds beamed into his tired eye sockets like it was the light of the sun. He squinted, backing away. 

It worked. It actually worked! 

His first instinct was to ditch this mission and return home. Visit Papyrus, assure him all was well. Check on his friends. Get a very much needed drink beside Pink Bird and the dogs. Yet he knew he couldn’t; time was of the essence. It was likely the Guardsmen would walk by in the evening, the food trolley had already visited, so the miserable stalk woman wouldn’t come by. 

It was so warm! Seeing an opportunity to dry out his damp clothing, Sans tugged at his hoody. He found the sleeve around the wrist brace difficult to get off. As he moved quickly down the corridor, he tied the coat around his waist, finally free of it for a while. 

At the late hour, the place was mostly deserted. Figures moved about the corridors nearby, but none came the skeleton’s way. Sans hurried down some of the darker passageways, through a service door who’s code he had learned some timelines ago. Not long later, the cobwebs began appearing. Gradually they became thicker until Sans was having trouble making his way through. Eight-legged critters scurried and observed from their perches. Their lair was nearby. 

A group of spiders scuttled down towards him, curiosity in their beady eyes. Sans saluted them with a smile. “Hey guys, is she in? I need to see the main lady.” 

They scurried back up their webs, disappearing from sight. Now Sans would wait. 

He’d dealt with the spiders before. Though his wasn’t at all fearful, Sans held a certain trepidation. One which was not unjustified or unfounded. 

A large shape approached, the sound of movement grew louder. Pushing through the webbing came a large monster, shaped oddly like a cupcake, lumpy with long insectoid legs. It peered down at Sans with many eyes, disproportionately smaller than the rest of its body. Huge wicked mandibles clicked, beckoning Sans to follow. It led the way through the cleared tunnel of web. The smell of baked goods and fruit lingered in the air. Sans followed until they reached a larger chamber, webbing covered almost every inch of the walls floor and ceiling. Sans had trouble picking his way through. It was really warm in here. An old service room, near a generator. Many pipes ran through, vents on every wall, now overtaken by the spiders. He’d seen human horror movies which resembled this atmosphere. 

The dim glow of red service lights lined the walls, the webs leaving them uncovered. Fireflies danced nervously in the webless spaces. The combination creating a sort of mood lighting. Sans was sure the arachnids would soon turn this room into a no-fly zone, when they got hungry. A hum of machinery rumbled softly nearby.

A feminine giggle sounded through one of the darkened spaces. The sound echoed around the room, the many entrances made it impossible to identify where the sound had originated.

Sans pushed away his apprehension as a figure he recognised descended from a dark air vent above, suspended by impossibly thin thread. “Well well, look who I didn’t expect to see. How would you be, Sans?” 

“Muffet.” Sans greeted with a confident smile, giving her a polite nod. “All the better for seeing you.” 

“Oooh!~” She stepped delicately onto the floor. The spider walked on smooth tip toes like a dancer, stepping around him with an intense but playful look, sizing him up. Sans held her gaze. “I’ve heard you’ve been rather naughty.” She said with a sly smile. Muffet stood a head taller than Sans, so at least her height wasn’t too intimidating… That didn’t say much for the rest of her though. 

Sans shrugged, “Suppose I have.”

Her eyes caught the suppressor on his wrist. In one fast movement, Muffet snatched his arm up to examine it closely. “Very naughty indeed. How have you managed that?” All four arms examined his arm and the cuff attached. 

Though he wanted badly to flinch away, Sans squashed the feeling. It would be rude to act such a way to this monster and possibly detrimental to his health also. Instead Sans smiled sweetly, “I have my ways of slipping about.” 

“I’ve noticed.” She flashed him a toothy grin. “You and your Snowdin troupe have been quite the bother. I lost one of my best to you.” 

Sans frowned in thought. “… You mean Egg?” 

“I do.” Her hands moved gently across his arm, probably to get a reaction out of him. Thankfully he wasn’t exactly ticklish. “He was most excellent at encouraging those who I expected payment from. The ones who needed a little push.” She whispered close to his skull. 

Sans hummed in understanding. “I’ll admit he was weirdly intimidating for someone with no face or real voice. Tough shell to crack.”

“Actually, he had lots to talk about if you gave him the time. Very clever too, could work anything out if you gave him enough time. Very distrustful though, I dare say that was his downfall. Had a soft spot for another monster, though I think he found their relationship to be rather tiring.” She finally let his arm go. “It tied him down in a way that I don’t think had been his idea.” A few larger spiders gathered in the corners of the room to watch the exchange. 

Interesting. Sans absorbed the information. “Shame, I only saw a hardboiled heart in him.” 

She giggled, moving closer once again to whisper, “Maybe it takes one to know one?” Before he could answer she continued, “Is this just a friendly visit or is there perhaps something you wanted?”

“I do have a request.” Sans said, keeping her gaze as best he could with how she closely circled him. “My bro’s been investigating the recent killings and well… things aren’t exactly going great.”

“Hmm, yes. From what I’ve heard, dear Papyrus is struggling and people are growing tired of his poor results.” Muffet cooed in an amused voice. 

Her phrasing could have been nicer, “Yeah.- Hang on, they weren’t killed by your lot, were they?” He suddenly considered. It sounded plausible.

She laughed loudly, a shrill noise which would have echoed into every vent and passageway, the thick padded webbing lining every surface muffled the sound. “Not us, dear. Though there were a few times that mousy Truffle woman was nearly payed a direct visit.” 

He could tell her honesty immediately. Sans shrugged, “Not a big deal. Anyway, I need surveillance. I’m worried for my brother’s safety and damnit, I’m sure whoever is doing this is in Snowdin, it all seems way too close to home. I’d ask for some of your eyes to check on people, see who’s up to what. _Spy-ders_ , if you will.” 

Muffet pulled a rather dramatic thinking pose. “I’ll admit it all seems quite exciting, all this horrid business. However, it won’t come too cheap. Snowdin is so very cold, my little babies will need tiny warm coats. Quite the distance for my little ones to travel and it could take a while to survey everyone…” 

He waved her off, “Just send me the bill when you’ve worked it out. I’ll sort it when I’m home.”

Stepping closer to Sans than he would have liked, Muffet cupped his cheek. “You do know you’ll be coming home, don’t you? Otherwise dear Papyrus will be left with quite the expense.” She said in a sympathetic voice.

Playing along despite the unwanted contact, Sans’ grin widened. “Oh, most defiantly. As you know, I have friends in high places.”

The spider kept their eyes locked for longer than would be considered polite. Her sly smile widened ever still, “You’re no fun today, can’t read you at all with that thing on.” She said, tracing a finger down his arm to tap on the cuff. 

“Heh, it’s kinda the worst.” He admitted, “So, we have a deal?” 

“I believe we do.” Muffet said, stepping back. “That’ll be all?”

“Yes, I’d say so.” Sans said, quite relieved he’d be soon leaving. 

“You’re welcome to stay for the evening, if you’d like, dearie.” The spider adjusted her dress, motioning up to the tunnel she appeared from. 

“I’m afraid I can’t stay. My time is kinda limited.” Sans said pointing at the suppressor as if it were a watch. What the monster was implying wasn’t lost on him.  
She rolled her eyes, “You do seem rather distracted today. Come by if you change your mind.” She began to walk away. “One of my friends will see you out. Lovely seeing you Sans, you are very interesting, I do very much enjoy our chats. Stop by whenever you like.” Muffet flashed him a wink before disappearing from sight.  
A scuttling beside him from another large spider-like creature led the way back to the exit. “Thanks, Muffet.” Sans called. 

The air was less humid outside of their nest. Sans left quickly, in case she changed her mind and insisted he stay for tea. The skeleton was most positive that no one who’d spent an evening with Muffet had ever walked away alive. 

His guide left him at the edge of the spider’s territory, fixing the broken webbing on their way back. Sans prepared himself to jump back to his cell, he took a last look around him at the interior complex. Everything looked so detailed and colourful after being stuck in a cave for a week. 

Well, goodbye outside world.

_Zap!_


	30. Burnt out

_ZAPP!_

Sans popped back into existence in his cell. He stumbled, disoriented by the jolt of electricity, landing a foot in the corner puddle. Great, just when he’d gotten warm.

“WHERE EWE GOW? TEM MISS EWE!” Temmie squeaked from their cell, face smushed against the bars, staring wide eyed at the skeleton. 

_“Shush!”_ Sans held a finger to his mouth. “Shud’ up!” 

“TEM KEEP SEEKWIT!” 

“I said shush!”

The warmth of Hotland still running fresh through his bones, Sans flopped down on his mattress. A genuine grin curled around his face. No Guardsmen were around, no one seemed to be rushing to his cell. There was still a chance a warning system was in place here- something which detected magic use and alerted the jailers. Unlikely, but possible. For now, Sans was happy. 

He felt accomplished. Finally, he had contributed to helping with this case. Hopefully Muffet’s costly services would yield some results… They had better. 

Yellow eyes from under the blanket caught his, staring out. Sans smiled and saluted the monster. The lip of the blanket was pulled down instantly. Contact denied.

Sighing, Sans leaned back. His hand caught something tough, under the fabrics edge. Of course, the drink his friends had given him! 

Sitting up to check his surroundings, all was quiet. The blanket in the next cell wasn’t watching, and Temmie had curled up in their tiny cat bed, meaning no witnesses. Sans regretted all of the reservations he’d originally had about Shrubberthree. The three-headed monster reassured him that at least not all plant monsters were murderous psychopaths… Was that racist? 

Time to see how well this stuff would knock him out! He definitely deserved a good nap. It tasted something like a strong fruity tea. Not terribly unpleasant but something you’d remember not to order again, were it in a coffee shop. The monster downed it quickly and slipped the empty vial back into its hiding place.  
Within only a short time, Sans felt the effects begin to work. The ache running down his spine started to dull while the chill in the air melted away into a pleasant neutral temperature. 

Sans slumped to the side, the tension dissolving from every part of him. After a while he felt fully at ease, for the first time in the however many days he’d been here. Sans giggle to himself, imagining what Papyrus would say.

Not long later, he drifted into a deep slumber.

 

Late evening, a pleasant breeze blew through an open window to Papyrus’s room. He’d stayed up a little later than intended, cheering himself with amusing things found on Undernet. The skeleton smiled to himself, recalling the ‘BoulderButts’ comedy duo- a pair of rock monsters who pulled the most excellent pranks on each other. They gave Papyrus a few ideas he’d use on Undyne and Sans- who was coming home soon. 

Sure, no one had confirmed this, and Papyrus was unsure when ‘soon’ was, but he knew with everyone working together now, to get to the bottom of the mystery, everything would be alright. 

Keeping that positive thought in mind, Papyrus flicked off his lights and crawled into bed. 

Cosy and warm, the soft street lights shone through his window. 

Halfway to dream land, Papyrus was sure he’d just caught a flash of blue light through the window. It had lasted less than a second. Definitely blue. It was followed shortly by a dull thudding which echoed outside. The skeleton blinked, about to brush it off as their neighbours messing around in the snow, until-. 

Papyrus sat up with a start as the room was filled with a bright orange light. Moving towards the window-.

_**‘KA-DOOM!’** _

Flinching back with gasp, the sound of an explosion shook the house, following the light. Recomposing himself, the skeleton ripped his curtain open fully. His eyes went wide. 

Further down the street, a building was aflame. A few monsters shouted to one another, awoken by the sound. Bits of roofing landed in the mud near Papyrus’s house. The burning building just barely visible over the row of houses, Papyrus watched the remaining roof collapse inwards. 

A sickening feeling rose within him. Even without investigating further, he knew which building that was. 

Sprinting out of the room as quick as he could, Papyrus desperately hoped he was wrong. 

People were already gathering on the street. A pyjama clad Papyrus, raced towards the cause of the commotion. His scarf haphazardly tossed around his neck and his fluffy slippers sliding on the muddy pathway. Papyrus skidded to a stop before what should have been Grillby’s. His heart sinking. Bits of the building were everywhere, completely blown apart. A mass of flaming rubble sat in the centre, beams jutting out. Wall partitions stood in what felt like odd places, and very few of the outer walls stood. The flames illuminated the main street, bathing all who watched in a hellish orange. Thick black smoke billowed into the air where it mixed with Snowdin’s thick clouds. Flaming rubble spilling out across the main street and worryingly close to neighbouring houses and trees. 

With no idea how to tackle a fire of this size, Papyrus quickly realised he had left his phone behind in his hurry to arrive. Besides, Undyne slept like a log and probably wouldn’t even pick up. 

Looking around, he spotted Pink Bird wondering, staring wide eyed into the blaze. 

“W-what happened?!” Papyrus asked as he neared. 

“I was last to leave.” She muttered in shock. “I don’t know what…” 

No one could have survived that, Papyrus thought. Grillby would have been ripped apart by the blast. Still he peered through the dense flames. 

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Papyrus turned to see Dogamy. This was the first he’d been seen outside without the hood to hide his mutilated face. “Ressa’s calling someone to put out the fire.” Dogamy said, his voice distant. He leaned down to Pink Bird’s height to hug her, “S’ok. Pink.” 

There wasn’t much for him to do now. Instructing the dogs to help, Papyrus worked on moving the gathering crowd to a safe distance. 

The flames persisted, roaring, crackling. Papyrus swore to himself he’d handle this dilemma better than the last. The embarrassment of his breakdown still very present in his mind. 

In the crowd, a hawk looking monster squinted into the flames. They raised a feathered hand. “Ay, there’s something moving!” They shouted over the commotion.

Papyrus turned briskly, it took him a while to see the movements too, his eyes not as sharp as the bird’s. 

Telling the others to hold the line, Papyrus dashed back to the smouldering wreck. His hopes peaked a beam of timber shifted. It wiggled as if being lifted, though each attempt to move it was failing. If Grillby was alive, his form was near invisible as he blended in with the surroundings. 

“Bones, what’re you doing?” Dogaressa called. Concerned, but obeying his instruction.

Papyrus did not answer as he hurried closer. 

The heat stung the skeleton’s bones, every instinct telling him not to advance. “Grillby!” He tried to latch onto what he hoped was Grillby’s soul with his blue magic, but couldn’t. 

No answer. The timber wobbled but remined firm. The fire monster was trapped. Someone was shouting for him back at the crowd, but Papyrus ignored them. He needed a way to get through the flames.

He remembered the magic Egg had used, making a blue magic field around himself. With it, he recalled how Grillby’s flames had been snuffed out instantly upon getting caught in the attack. If Papyrus could manipulate his magic in such a way, maybe he could use it to cross through. 

It would be some time for before a rescue crew arrived, time was of the essence. 

The smoke stung his eye sockets and Papyrus forced himself to stop breathing. He summoned his magic forth, a blue glow shining in the air around him. Knowing exactly what to replicate, the skeleton expertly shifted the energy, solidifying the glow into a construct, blue and solid looking. The flames within immediately lost their hold and as Papyrus turned up the pressure of the attack. This could work! 

Tentatively, he stepped closer and pushed though the bubble. Silence greeting him. It was difficult to move within, the extra gravity made him feel ten times heavier. It was like trying to move underwater whilst being made of stone.

Papyrus’s nerves rattled his bones, but he refused to stop. The memory of being held in place with the same magic attack, by Egg, was threatening to stop him. That feeling of being crushed, the helplessness which came with it… But this time, Papyrus was the one in control. 

Stumbling over the uneven piles of debris, he pushed his magic forwards. Creeping forwards it let him advance through the rubble, which burned violently around him. Flame whipped on all sides around the safety of his magic shield. 

Not too far now. Papyrus’s bones shook as he got closer, the weight of his own body pushing down. His feet stumbled over uneven surfaces. His footing gave way a few times through damaged wall partitions and furniture. Grillby wasn’t far now, though he was still difficult to see. There was defiantly movement ahead.

When he dared go no closer for fear of harming his friend more, Papyrus dropped the shield. Immediately, the heat, the roar of the fire and the stinging of the smoke were upon him. Felling suddenly lighter, Papyrus nearly stumbled off the unsteady roof tiles he balanced on. There, before him was Grillby, only partly visible under the fallen wreckage. Flame crept around the monster, who looked half crushed with only head, torso and one arm not buried. Though difficult to see, Grillby weakly pushed at what was trapping him, as Papyrus came into view. 

Papyrus knew he had only a short time before the fire engulfed where he stood once more. Forming a bone attack, the beam of wood was sliced through, halving its weight. In a daring move, Papyrus grabbed the burning wood and rolled it off Grillby. It singed his hands, making the skeleton quickly recoil, but that was unimportant.

“Can you move?” Papyrus shouted, the heat quickly becoming blistering. Voices were calling out of sight, hopefully no one else was going to try anything as stupidly heroic. 

Grillby groaned, weakly lifting a hand. Papyrus couldn’t tell how aware he was, but at least Grillby was awake. Grabbing the hand, Papyrus hauled Grillby towards him. Most of the debris fell away from around him. The monster roared in pain. His legs were still trapped. 

Not giving in to his fear, Papyrus laid his magic under the rubble trapping Grillby’s feet. In a desperate motion, bone attacks pierced upwards out of the ground. Grillby gripped hard onto Papyrus’s arm, a pained sound rumbling out of him. The force of the attack did its job, the object trapping Grillby was thrown off where it thudded into the fire, no longer seen. Keeping a hand on him, Papyrus finally turned Grillby’s soul blue, and hauled him out. Bits of junk fluttering away and instantly burned up in the flames.

They needed to get out quick. Papyrus coughed, forgetting he shouldn’t be breathing. His scarf was definitely burning.

Their path in had become encased in fire. “Sorry about this.” Papyrus mumbled before using the magic grip to hurl Grillby out of the wreck. The monster flashing a look of sheer panic, mid-air, before he disappeared through the flames, hopefully out of harms way. Unable to bare the heat any longer, the gravity field was thrown back up. This time, the silence and pressure were welcome. 

By the time he reached the edge of the wreckage, Papyrus could hardly stand. His limbs felt like jelly, it hadn’t been far at all, but the extreme gravity made his joints ache. Letting up the magic, he was greeted by two things, a weightless feeling, thanks to normal gravity; and a pair of hands roughly pulling him a safe distance from the fire. 

Dogaressa was on him before Papyrus could react. “Bones you absolute-!” She growled. Prodding him and checking he wasn’t terribly burnt. 

“Worry not, The Great Papyrus cannot be beaten by simple fire- OUCH!” He stopped as she grabbed one of his hands. Both were burnt fairly badly. “Please, we can deal with this later.” He said, pulling away, in search for Grillby.

The elemental was on his knees heaving in ragged breaths, something like lava dripping slowly from his jagged mouth. A few monsters fussed over him, Pink bird amongst them, she seemed to be the only one unperturbed by his flames. Papyrus joined them. 

Though the wet mud wasn’t helping Grillby’s legs, they were still in one piece, much to Papyrus’s relief. A few townspeople proficient in healing gathered around. 

Anyone unnecessary was returned to their homes. Papyrus eventually let someone look at his burnt hands, which Scarfed Mouse, someone he had not seen in a while quickly did something to. He wasn’t sure what, but he walked away with both hands bandaged. “You were very lucky.” She said in a scolding voice, “Very silly and very lucky.” 

Grillby, meanwhile, was refusing any treatment. He wasn’t speaking to anybody, if their worried encouragement was anything to go by. A blanket had been thrown over his shoulders, his flames a dull dark orange. Vile gurgling coughs shook him.

In the quiet moment of waiting and surveying the scene, Papyrus’s adrenaline died down, letting the moment wash over him. A mix of tiredness and calm set in. Magic tingled in the air, near where the burning establishment’s centre would have been. It crackled outwards, vivid and familiar. There was a sinking feeling within Papyrus’s chest. Instantly, he recognised it as the same magic from the previous crime scenes. That was impossible, right?

Some monsters arrived to deal with the damage. A Group of rather strange monsters used magic to pull a large mass of water from the nearby river, working on extinguishing the blaze. 

Only a few towns people were left, there wasn’t much else for the skeleton to do. Papyrus held a hand out to Grillby. The elemental slowly looked up to meet his eye.  
“C’mon, you can’t sit in that mud all day. If you won’t go to hospital then I insist you spend the night at my house… Sorry I threw you.” Papyrus gave him a weak smile, hopefully encouraging enough to motivate him. 

A hand rose gripping Papyrus’s wrist. Grillby was pulled to his feet unsteadily. Grillby clung to the blanket over his shoulders with one hand and grasped Papyrus’s shoulder with the other. His eyes were lost, magic field curled so tightly within him that it might have been non-existent. His legs were badly damaged, but at least managed to take a little weight. 

They walked back slowly, the dogs joining them. Both helping to support their friend’s weight. Inside, Grillby was deposited onto the sofa before the dogs bid them goodnight. The two remaining sat beside each other in silence, drinking tea. The flame monster hardly touched his. 

After a long pause, Papyrus hesitantly asked the question on the forefront of his mind. “You felt it too, didn’t you? Sans’ magic?” 

A long stretch of inaction followed. Papyrus was unsure whether Grillby had heard him. Finally, the elemental reluctantly nodded.

“Any idea at all what happened?” 

Grillby offered a very muted shrug. 

“Did you see anyone?” Papyrus asked gently. 

Grillby shook his head, not making eye contact. 

Papyrus figured pretty quickly that his friend would remain this way for a while. “Want me to stay with you?” Papyrus asked much more softly than he usually spoke.

Again, Grillby shook his head.

“Need anything, just let me know, I probably won’t sleep much.” Papyrus laughed without humour. “You can decide between here and sleeping in my brother’s room. I’ve nearly finished tidying it, he won’t recognise it when he’s back. Still it’s pretty gross, so I advise staying here…” 

There was no response other than a tiny nod. Papyrus set out the first aid kit and a clean set of pyjamas and day wear, picked expertly from Papyrus’s wardrobe. He flicked the television on and piled more blankets than Grillby would ever need beside him. Through this, the other stared hard at the floor. Not moving other than the occasional coughing fit, Grillby stayed still. 

In the light, Papyrus got a good look over Grillby’s injuries, not covered by the blanket. His legs were pretty mashed up, the craggy rock-like skin was visible where flames usually hid it. They looked grazed and mud coated. A small chunk was missing from just below his knee, it bled a fair amount. His flames looked weak; HP probably low. He wasn’t going to dust, by the look of things, that was one positive. 

“Goodnight, remember what I said about waking me. Oh, and sorry for stabbing you a little there.” Papyrus smiled, indicating to Grillby’s knee.

The flame monster nodded, not moving. 

Papyrus found himself a new set of pyjamas, the ones he wore had burn holes, dirt and stank of smoke. His scarf was about the same, it would require a repair. Returning to a funny Undernet page for some distraction, Papyrus tried to find some calm. 

 

The following morning, Papyrus wondered downstairs to find Grillby gone. Used medical supplies in the trash, mugs washed and dried and every blanket meticulously folded. Papyrus was sure the floor had been swept, also. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who panic cleaned. 

A note was left of the coffee table, written in stylish lettering. It detailed Grillby’s gratitude for the skeleton’s hospitality as well as his perilous rescue. The elemental reassured he was fine and going to stay in the Capital for a few days, and had borrowed a coat and umbrella for the journey. The letter finished with a promise to visit Sans on the way through. 

Papyrus smiled at his dedication; the monster shouldn’t have been traveling that far in such a state.

No more Grillby’s. Never mind the occurrences of the last several months, this would be the thing which shook little Snowdin town down to its foundations. 

Hopefully he wouldn’t have to be the one to break the news to Sans…

 

It was a sound which brought Sans out of his hazy stupor. 

The noise was persistent, strange. It refused to let Sans fall back to sleep. His limbs felt heavy, his eyes felt heavier. 

“Wakey wakey, Sans~.” 

Was someone talking to him? “Papyrus?” Sans asked.

“C’mon, sleepy head.” The sound was soft and breathy. 

Sans blinked his eyes open slowly. The action required more effort than usual. From the darkness a pair of golden yellow eyes shone out. 

“E’lo?” He mumbled as they regarded him. 

“You are awake?” They asked in the same uncomfortable voice. 

“Sure.” Sans groaned. He rolled over onto his side to share a bit more of his attention. This better be important, they were interrupting the best nap of his life. As he wiped around his eyes, Sans realised it was the blanketed monster talking to him. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Does he have your attention now?” 

Sans sighed a long yawn. “I mean… sure?”

The blanket rose, a feline snout poking out. “I can feel it. His strength is building. He can reach so many now.” They said with a creepy, toothy smile.  
“What are you on about?” 

“He needs people to remember him. Can you imagine what it’s like to go from everything to nothing in an instant?” The cat asked, desperation in their voice. 

Sans dropped his eyes closed once more, “Mmn. M’not really up for lateral thinking right now.” He replied sleepily.

They continued as if not spoken to. “Imagine dying. Dying at the same instant as every other version of yourself, from every universe and altered dimension-. Stay awake, Sans.” 

“Huh?” Sans blinked awake once more. “Wha’ were ya sayin’?”

The monster continued, “If suddenly, upon death, you and every one of your counterparts entered the same plane of existence. A gap between worlds- an endless space of darkness. However, in this void, there can only be one of you. If this rule is challenged, the void will make compromises. Many beings all sharing one body and one soul.” The formerly fearful cat said. 

Lifting a hand, Sans stopped the other. “Sorry, is this important?” 

“Important?” They repeated in an offended tone. “It is of the utmost importance. If he deems it so, you must listen!” 

Sans itched lazily at his ribs. “Yeah, sure… thing is, I’m kinda fucked up right now.” He slurred, warm blissful sleep waiting for him. 

There was a pause before the monster continued, “Yes, he is disappointed by your lack of will. He hoped you may have shown some higher intelligence, instead of indulging in lowly narcotics.” 

The skeleton let lose a sudden high-pitched laugh. _“Higher intelligence!_ Good one!” 

A voice rang out from further up the tunnel, calling for quiet. 

When Sans finally calmed from his sudden laughter, the cat continued, “He likes you, Sans-.” 

“Ooh, does he?” Sans winked, a large dopey smile on his face. 

“…And his warning is important. The strange happenings of recent have turned his eyes on us. There is something he seeks. A lurking power, a chance of freedom.” 

“Oh sure, ok. Where is he now then?” 

The cat’s eyes widened, a sinister smile crawling up their face, “Right behind you.” 

A chill ran through his bones. The pleasant warm buzz provided by whatever he’d taken, slipped away instantly. The feeling of someone- something behind him, looming threatening. 

Sans turned over as quick as his sluggish body would allow. 

Nothing. Just the cave wall.

“Heh, nice one. Got m’ there for a sec.” Sans said, turning back. The chilly feeling ebbed away quickly, replaced by the warmth provided by… whatever Shrub had given him. 

The cat hummed a childish giggle. “He’s coming back. Slowly. Oh so slowly. How lucky I am, to be deemed worthy of such knowledge, even for a fleeting second.” They grinned. The yellow eyes bobbing in the dark. 

“That all?” Sans asked bluntly, fed up with this. 

“Soon, so soon. Squirming, restricted, longing…” The continued to mutter nonsense. 

Sans curled back into his most comfortable position and closed his eyes. “Speak in the mornin’ then?” 

“Wait! He has more left to say. The fire did not kill, but-. Don’t you go to sleep!” 

“Night, scardy cat.” Sans mumbled, ignoring the offence in their tone. 

The cat tutted loudly, “The flames missed their mark, thanks to your kin. But Your presence did not go undetected. They know, both down here and there. A storm approaches. Find the human before they do…” 

The franticly hissed words faded out as Sans drifted to sleep.


	31. Risk and reward

Who knew what time it was. Who knew what day it was, for that matter. When Sans finally awoke from his ‘super nap’, he had lost all sense of time. He could have slept for days, for all he cared. It was worth it. 

As the skeleton came about from his slumber, one thing concerned him- the presence of Guards around his cell block. One scrawny looking monster kept shuffling down to Sans’ cell. They would glance inside for a few moments before leaving without a word. This occurrence happened repeatedly, over several hours. Were they checking back to make sure he was still there?

Maybe his magic _had_ triggered something. Oops. They couldn’t prove anything though, right? He’d only left once, surely, they would just pass it off as a detection error. 

Sans smiled to himself in accomplishment. He had finally made himself useful. If he could get away with leaving so easily, maybe he _would_ have dinner at Grillby’s. A visit to see Alphys or Papyrus was also in order. 

Maybe it was teleporting with the suppressor on, but Sans’ magic felt noticeably drained. Weird that he hadn’t regained the energy while he slept. He brushed it off, maybe he would have to suffer the ‘porridge’ to restore his magic.

A double set of clunky footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Sans rolled his eyes, annoyed by the distraction. The scrawny guy was back again, this time with a less welcome friend in tow.

“Mornin.’” Sans greeted, half-heartedly. 

“It’s evening.” The Warden grunted. They turned to glance at their co-worker, who nervously shifted under their superior’s multi-eyed gaze. 

Sans didn’t reply. Hopefully they would acknowledge his presence and leave. Lazily, he fidgeted with the zip of his hoody. 

Unfortunately, they did not. “I hear you’ve given my people quite the run-around.” The huge monster drawled on.

Sans hummed a laugh, quite calm despite the monster’s intimidating presence. “I’m not the kind to run anywhere, quite the lazy bones, I am.”

“Had somewhere better to be, did you?” The Warden asked, knowingly. 

Sans had been readying his reply when the Temmie called from the opposite cell. 

“YAH TEM MISSED EWE!” 

Sans angrily shot the cat-like creature a glare.

The Warden growled a deep laugh, “How did you manage that?” He reached forward, Sans’ cell door clicked open.

Sans rose to his feet quickly. He stumbled slightly, still drowsy. He didn’t want to deal with this today. “M’sure there’s some misunderstanding. Temmie can be a little fur-brained, not really the best to take advice from.” He said quickly.

The other drew closer, ignoring his words. The Warden was much more gleeful of this situation than what should be normal. In response, Sans shrunk further back. Of course, he was unnerved by this guy, he was at least three times taller, and right now, infinitely more powerful. Sans tried to mask how anxious he felt with his usual smile. 

“C’mon, you can _see right through me,_ I’m telling the truth. Don’t be so _marrow minded."_ He awkwardly joked.

Sans was cornered. Nope nope nope. Not this again. He absolutely would not be made a fool of again. The skeleton sneered defiantly up at the red-eyed monster. 

The Guardsman seemed to feed off his fear. Sans hated how the guy chucked maliciously in response. A hand reached out.

_“Don’t you dare!”_ Sans hissed. The suppressor buzzed to life as he called for his magic, not caring if it shocked him. There was the familiar pull, like his power was elastic, tied to his soul. However, instead of snapping back uselessly, blue sparks bubbled around him. 

Responding to Sans’ fury, his eye glowed bright, a shape manifesting above the skeleton. The Warden backed away in confusion as a skeletal blaster head emerged. Twisted and horrifying. 

The looming Guard looked utterly stunned. Eyes wide at this unexpected occurrence. 

Energy gathered slowly in the construct’s gaping mouth. It charged much more sluggishly than usual, held back by his restraints. Sans willed it to hurry, he absolutely wanted to break a chunk off this evil monster. In protest, sparks shot from the suppressor.

The Warden observed in mild dismay. Seeing what Sans was attempting to do, he growled furiously. 

A little more and he’d have enough power-. 

Bolting forwards faster than the monster looked like he might have moved, The Warden shot towards Sans. A heavily armoured fist raised. 

_**Bash!** _

Darkness instantly met Sans as the fist made contact with his head. In the same instant, his hold on the magic released. An echoing screech faded in his head. A flash of light was the last Sans saw before he felt himself hit the ground, all sensation melting away…

…

… …

… … … Ouch. 

The world around him swam as Sans regained awareness. Colours danced around his closed eyes. A feeling swirled between his skull and ribcage, dizziness. Like he was being rolled around by waves or strapped into a rollercoaster. Was he falling?

Peeling his eyes open was a chore. His head was sore and the room spun, even from his position on the ground. He was in his cell. 

Sans sat up slowly. His arms felt weird. They were weighed down and tingly. Numb from the tips of his fingers to his shoulders. 

His hands were tied together in front of him, bound between a short chain. Two suppressors now circled his wrists, slightly different from the last one. Oh, great. The last one was uncomfortable, now his magic felt like to was being smothered. Pressed back so far into his soul that it was a wonder he was even alive enough to move his body. These must have been built for incredibly hard to contain monsters. The idea of those needing to be used on him, made Sans chuckle despite his pounding head. 

His blasters had not only manifested but presumably fired, if his memory was correct… Actually, when his eyes focused, there was a substantial amount of dust now covering the floor. It certainly wasn’t his. 

Hah. He supposed people had been right to fear the unpredictability of artificial magic. Excellent, it served that asshole right. Sans wondered how much damage his attack had done. It hadn’t been a fully charged blast, though it was definitely close range. Bitterly, Sans hoped The Warden’s injuries hurt as much as his ribcage did.   
Shuffling to lean against something, Sans confirmed that he had indeed been kicked in the chest. A few cracks were there, just starting to bruise. Nice. Otherwise, he was fine. 

It was a while later when Sans noticed that blanket cat was missing. Their box sat where it always had, this time, with no covering on top of it. 

“Temmie, where did, ur, that one go?” Sans lazily asked, lifting both hands to point at the space the cat’s absence had left. 

“HE GOTS TOO LEYVE! ME WISH TEM CUD LEYVE!” They chirped. 

Lucky thing. 

“Thanks for ratting me out back there.” Sans grumbled. “Really appreciate it, furball.” 

“TEM DO NUT NO WAT EWE MEEN. I TEM, BY TA WAY! WAT UR NAYME?” They announced.

Sans winced at their shrill voice. “I’m Spud.”

 

It felt like a long time since Sans had received a visitor, so when Grillby rounded the corner, Sans was delighted to see him. What was less delightful, was the look both gave each other upon taking in each other’s conditions. 

“What the heck happened, Grillbz?” Sans asked, bewildered by his dull, almost non-existent flames and distinct limp. 

‘Do you have a black eye?’ Grillby asked, avoiding Sans’ question.

“Are you wearing Papyrus’s clothes? Did something happen in Waterfall?” In turn, Sans avoided Grillby’s question. 

‘Has someone hurt you?’ The question held an odd tone. The monster analysed Sans like he was under a microscope. 

“What happened to your leg- or the rest of you, for that matter?” 

‘Sans, stop avoiding my questions.’ 

“Only if you tell me what happened.”

‘I wish to hear from you first.’ Grillby pushed back. 

However, the skeleton was adamant that his condition was second to that of Grillby’s, who looked much worse for wear than a couple of bruises. “No, c’mon. You look like-.”

_“Sans.”_ Grillby growled aloud. Distorted and quite upsetting. It made the other pause, deciding his next words carefully. 

“… I’m fine. Just got a little… protective of myself.” He gave a half smile. “Ok, you next.”

Grillby said nothing until Sans sighed in defeat. 

The two made a compromise. Sans would explain first, followed by Grillby. Sans explained his visit to see Muffet and why he was now sitting in handcuffs with an apparent black eye. “They think I’m dangerous.” He concluded with the biggest smile. Hopefully his actions wouldn’t have repercussions. 

Sans hadn’t expected his friend’s reaction. Grillby seemed genuinely distraught by Sans’ mistreatment. While Sans didn’t think it was that much of a big deal, he was all in one piece, after all. The elemental barely contained his emotion. Sans could feel the anger radiating from Grillby’s weak flames. He wondered fearfully for a moment who it was directed towards. 

Where Grillby clung onto the iron bars between them, the metal began to oose. Smoke rose and the smell of burning metal began to fill the space. Melted iron dribbled from under Grillby’s fingers. The elemental repeatedly glanced back up the corridor. Sans wondered whether he was planning something against the jailers here. The thought was worrying, to say the least.

“Hey, hey, I’m alright. He probably came off worse. Cool off a little.” Sans reassured. 

The elemental tried to calm himself, the temperature of the space dropped a little. 

In a much gentler voice, Grillby asked, ‘Would you show me the rest of the damage?” He sounded rather desperate. 

Sans pointed at his chest, a questioning look on his face.

Grillby nodded.

“I dunno.” Sans said slowly. Don’t ya think that’s a little… you know?” He said with a grin, hoping to make light of the situation.

‘I do not know.’ 

Sans posed as if deep in thought, “You’ve gotta be pretty special to me to get me to take my clothes off.”

‘… Am I not special?’

Sans blinked. “Was that a joke? I can’t tell.” Yeah, sure it was. Sans grinned, “Plus, it’s pretty cold.”

‘I could warm your shirt.’ 

“D-did you really just say that?”

Grillby just held his gaze, saying nothing more. 

Sans laughed, pulling up his shirt to reveal a few cracks in his ribs. No bruises had really formed yet, though they were sure to. “I’m just bluffing. I don’t care.” 

Grillby subtly winced at the minor damage but said nothing else than a quick ‘Thank you.’ When he was done staring. 

The conversation moved onto Grillby’s explanation of the past few days. He wasn’t so giving with information, a closed off monster by nature. What Sans heard both filled him with emotion and stripped him of it. Grillby’s was gone. He couldn’t believe it. It shouldn’t be true. The feeling it brought out was like he’d been informed of the passing of a close friend. 

Someone had tried to kill Grillby. How? Why? Why would anyone? Sans couldn’t think of a single person who had something against the monster.

He learned how it had been Papyrus to pull Grillby out of the rubble slowly crushing him. Sans almost wished he’d left that part out. His brother had waded into an open furnace. There were a thousand things which could have gone wrong. 

Grillby had been staying at a hotel in the Capital for the past few days. He had, of course, intended on visiting sooner, had his injuries permitted. 

No amount of apologies or well-wishes would help here. Sans could feel the shock still mingling into Grillby’s magic field. He wished to reach out with his own in comfort, though if that had been impossible previously, it was extra impossible now. Sans might as well not have even been there. Instead, the two did what they did best and sat in silence. 

“You see who did it?”

‘I did not.’

“Do you have any idea who it was?” Sans tried.

There was a thoughtful pause before the fire monster answered, ‘I believe it would be best not to speculate at this time.’

Sans nodded apologetically. “Why the Capital?” 

‘Cheap hotels.’ 

“Is that the only reason?”

‘I wished to leave Snowdin for a while.’ He replied dryly. 

His reasoning was understandable. If someone had made an attempt on his life, it was probably wise to leave, even for a while. Though, in the Underground, it wasn’t like one could run very far. “How long are you planning to stay?” Sans asked.

‘A week, maybe.’

“Soon as I’m out, come stay with us, ok?” Sans suggested.

Grillby looked even more uncomfortable at the idea. ‘I’d be imposing.’

“Nah, ya wouldn’t! Papyrus loves guests and if someone less pleasant came calling, well… There’d be two of us with a bone to pick, backing you up.” He insisted with as much cheer as he could muster. It would be better, there was safety in numbers. 

Though he looked unsure, Grillby nodded in relent. ‘Until you are out.’ He agreed. 

 

The elemental returned the following day, the day after that and the day after that also. Sans received no other visitors. He’d been hoping Papyrus would drop by, but that had yet to happen. His hope of seeing his brother anytime soon was running dry. At least Grillby had remembered him. 

Maybe there was a draft down theses old tunnels, but it was much colder than ever. Sans highly suspected the increased chill was due to his new cuffs. The addition of them made life rather frustrating. They were heavy and made his arms ache from the restricted movement. On a positive note, they were not as painfully tight as the previous single wrist one he had worn for the majority of his time here. 

Something else which surprised him, was the lack of Guard activity. Nobody else had visited Sans since his last encounter with The Warden- someone who had not been seen since. Sans had worried the guy would have been back to put their prisoner in his place. Sans had definitely struck him with his plasma attack. It seemed in the monster’s nature to want some form of revenge. 

Yet, apart from the Scardy Cat being sent home, no other activity had occurred. Sans remembered the feline talking to him, while he was in his wonderfully messed up state. He’d tried to remember their words. They were cryptic and strange. Sans couldn’t help but think they had been important. Then again, maybe the monster had just been mad…

It was now day fourteen. Two weeks he’d been stuck in here. Temmie was apparently going home today, so he’d heard. A rumour which proved to be true when the large kindly Guard he’d met previously came to collect the fluffy nightmare. Thank goodness they were gone… though, it was very quiet down here now. At least he’d see Grillby later. 

 

Day fifteen rolled around. The morning was spent sulking. Sans was near accepting he was never getting out of here. Tired and fed up, Sans forced himself to go back to sleep. 

_He remembered headaches from harsh spotlights. Glitter, so much it clung to him. He remembered slipping out of Mettaton’s clutches, trying to wash the stuff from his finger joints, where it sat gritty and painful. He remembered the people crying out, starving and in protest, Papyrus attempting to subdue the crowd at the unveiling of Mettaton’s newest monument to himself. He remembered the Royal Judge still loyally serving as the King’s executioner, should he decide. Though the criteria for judgment had been altered drastically. He remembered the population depleting and his LV increasing at the King’s order. He remembered Papyrus looking terrified, trying to shake the dust of some monster out of Sans’ clothes, with even shakier hands. He pleads that Sans is needed on stage for Mettaton’s show right now. He needs to get that mortified look off his face right now, or he might be next to lose his head._

“Hey. Wake up, lazy bones.”

Sans groaned as he was brought out of his sleep. It was a voice he recognised. He stirred, unwilling to awaken just yet, he’d rather return to his dreams, even if they were unhappy. 

Someone kicked his foot.

“C’mon, stupid.” They called again. 

Sans blinked, mumbling something distasteful under his breath. He flinched at the unexpected tall figure looming over him, Silhouetted in torchlight. They were inside his cell.

“Wakey wakey. Don’t freak out, it’s just me.” They scoffed. 

“Undyne?” Sans rubbed at his eye sockets, shooing away his sleep. 

She grinned down at him, “Who else?” Undyne stood impatiently, hands on her hips. 

Sans pushed himself into a seated position, finally noticing a second figure close by. This time the friendly Guard, who stood back watching on, relaxation in his posture. “What’re you doing here?” Sans asked.

Undyne laughed loudly, the sound bouncing into the tall craggy ceiling. “What do you think?” She booted his leg once more. “C’mon, I don’t have all day. Or have you decided to live here now?” 

Sans looked between the two. At his disbelief, the larger Guard hummed a cheerful laugh. Undyne echoed him with a grittier sound. At their display, Sans scrambled to his feet. “Serious?” He asked, wondering of he was still dreaming.

“Yes, my friend.” The Guard, who’s name Sans had never learned, replied. He beckoned the skeleton over. 

With the flash of a magic stone, the cuffs clicked open and fell away. Instantly, in a feeling he had never quite experienced before, the magic trapped within his soul came flooding out. It was dizzying and a little overwhelming. 

“Ready?” Undyne asked, not waiting for him to get his bearings. She made her way towards the exit. 

Sans grinned, not even glancing back as he followed at her heels. 

They waited in the main hub area. Undyne needed to sign some paperwork to document Sans’ release. She worked quickly, rushing. It was clear she liked this place as much as anyone else. The area was busy, many monsters hurrying from place to place. Sans found himself a corner to wait in, out of everyone’s way. A few monsters stood around the edges of the room, watching the passers-by. 

Across the room a certain figure caught the skeleton’s eye. His gaze met that of The Warden, who scowled a red-hot stare in Sans’ direction. His red eyes dripped with malice and the monster rose from his seated position to stand tall, amongst every other smaller scurrying figure. Sans held his eye with glee as he took in the damage his blaster had inflicted. 

His deep grey armour was singed and partly melted. The Guard’s whole upper left arm was gone. Severed from the shoulder. Just gone! A gaping hole was left, his armour just managing to hide what was likely a gruesome injury. 

Sans grinned his widest and most genuine smile since being dragged down here. He gave a wave and shrugged.

Even a distance away, Sans could feel the burning fury rolling off the monster, in response to the taunt. Passers-by ducked out of the way at the fearsome energy resonating in the air. The look of absolute rage in his eyes was something to behold, otherwise, he did not act. Sans guessed he wasn’t used to getting a taste of his own medicine, and preferred those he picked on to be defenceless. 

Hopefully, they’d meet in the Judgment Hall one day.

“We’re done!” Undyne announced, setting a fast pace towards the exit. In her hurry, the warrior didn’t seem to notice the animosity in the room. 

Leaving, Sans shook the hand of the kindly Guard, wishing him and his young family the best. Soon as they were done, Undyne led the way back up the steep passageway towards Hotland. 

On the way up, they discussed the evidence for and against Sans. The Captain was subdued and more approachable to the skeleton than usual, so the discussion stayed nonaggressive. They spoke about the incident at Grillby’s. Apparently, Sans’ magic had been used there, too, which had led to him being released. Afterall, it couldn’t be him now, right? He’s been locked up in prison. Apparently, Papyrus was now searching for a monster with the ability to mimic others, and use their magic.   
Sans wondered whether such a thing existed, that could copy his magic to be a ‘one hundred percent match’. Sans kept quiet as he listened, not mentioning how he could have left his cell and travelled to Snowdin. That would be something for him to silently mull over. 

For now, all charges against him were dropped, due to ‘inconclusive evidence’. It sounded like everyone had accepted that he was being framed, and was not the genuine killer… Sort of. Maybe. 

“Let’s just say inconclusive.” Undyne shrugged. Even she sounded like she’d had a change of heart, in regards to the case. With Sans, she was fair; today at least. 

The huge guarded doors loomed, two monsters standing either side, indicating they had made it all the way to the jail entrance. Sans was a little out of breath from the walk. “Hey, you ok, Undyne? Ya don’t seem your scaly self” Sans remarked, noting the distant look she wore.

Her yellow eye met his immediately, as if she’d been waiting for him to ask. “We need to visit Alph.” Undyne said in a serious tone. 

Sans frowned, “She alright?”

Undyne shrugged, “I haven’t heard from her in nearly a week. No ones seen her and I can’t get through that damn lab door.” 

Worry built in Sans’ chest at her words. “You wanna go now?” He asked as the doors were slowly opened for them. The armoured monsters saluting their Captain. 

The light hit him hard. The soft orange glows of Hotland were bright enough to Sans that he might have been stepping out into the sunlight of the surface. A hand was brought up to his face, against the piercing light of the streetlamps. It was wonderfully warm. The ground a dusty brown under his grubby shoes. Right now, Hotland was Sans’ favourite place in the Underground. 

“You can get us in?” Undyne asked as the pair stepped outside. The large doors groaned as they slowly closed. The magic seals relocking. 

“Course I can. Getting into places is easy when you’ve got no body.” He winked, despite the tense atmosphere. “Gimme your hand.” Sans instructed, turning to face the Captain, now they were out of earshot of the Guards stood at the door. 

“Damn, you’re a mess!” Undyne remarked, seeing him in the light for the first time. “Do you have a black eye?”

“Yes and yes. You’d look a mess too if ya hadn’t had a bath in over two weeks.” It was then that Sans noticed the dark purple ring around his wrist from the biting grasp of the first suppressor he’d worn. Undyne noticed it too and winced subtly. 

“How’d you get that?” Undyne asked, pointing to her own eye. 

Sans huffed in amusement, “Oh you know. I got fairly acquainted with your Warden.”

At the troublesome monster’s name, Undyne sneered. “I only hired him as a favour.” She paused, seemingly deciding whether or not to tell the skeleton any more, before conceding. “He used to be one of Muffet’s goons.”

“Ooh, keeping her favourites out of trouble to stay on good terms?” Sans grinned. “No wonder the media says the Guard is corrupt.” He mock whispered with a grin.   
Undyne didn’t approve. She scowled down at Sans in reply but said nothing to counter his argument. 

“I’m kidding.” Sans smiled, knowing his words were true. “Shall we go?”

“Wait. Were you the one who blew his arm off?” 

Sans snorted, “Yeah, I was. He got a little too close for comfort.”

She followed his laughter, “Sweet! Guy had it coming.” Undyne offered up a fist bump, which Sans reciprocated. “Ya know, he asked me directly whether they could execute you for doing that.” 

“And what did you say?” Sans joked.

“I told him to fuck off.” Undyne laughed, “Should have guessed it was you.” 

Sans felt quite prideful of his accomplishment, “Well, I do have a habit of finding trouble… Are you gonna take my hand or what?”

Undyne looked back down to his outstretched hand with something like suspicion. 

“Just do it.” 

Finally, Undyne placed her hand on top of Sans’ unsure of what was happening. He rolled his eyes and grasped her hand tightly. Pulling his magic around him, it moved freely, swimming invisibly in the air at his will, unrestrained. With no fear of repercussions, Sans chose their destination and the pair blinked out from where they stood. 

 

“Woah!” Undyne yelled as their feet found the floor once again. The taller monster stumbled. At her movement, lights flickered on around them. They stood in the entrance way of Alphys’ lab. It was so much brighter in here, it made Sans’ head hurt. 

“I forgot you could do that.” Undyne said in an odd tone which carried many conflicting emotions. 

“Yeah…” Sans said, not really paying her any mind. Instead, he took in his surroundings. It was very clean. Cleaner than usual. Figurines were packed into boxes in one corner, all furniture was neatly ordered and not a scrap of litter marred the surfaces. It smelled like cleaning products. Despite this, a small layer of dust had formed atop of each surface. The security camera system was powered down, as was every piece of machinery. Without the mechanical whirring, it left the room in eerie silence. The homely atmosphere the room usually carried was gone. It sent a chill down Sans’ spine. Glancing at Undyne, he wasn’t the only one noticing the abnormalities. 

“ALPH!” Undyne yelled, suddenly. It made Sans startle. The sound echoed around but there came no reply. 

“Alph, it’s us.” Sans announced, not quite as loud. 

Still nothing. 

They made their way further inside. The place did look bare. It disoriented the skeleton, made him want to pick up on every difference, every detail. It became quickly clear to them both, that they were the first people to walk this room in some time.

“Hey.” Undyne called him over to a desk. She lifted a single piece of paper, torn at the top, like it had been crudely ripped from a notebook. An anomaly amongst the otherwise orderly surface. 

The chill he felt intensified. It wrapped around his each and every bone. With horrid realisation, Sans recognised this scenario. “What’s it say?” He heard himself whisper, the air stuck in his chest.

Undyne didn’t reply. Her yellow eye darted back and forth fast as she read the paper. She frowned, coming to the end. Then began again, reading slower. 

Sans waited. Watching as her face twisted into a look of confusion as she finished her second read. At the end of her third time reading the note, Undyne wore a look of horror. 

He knew his fears were real from her face. Sans was cold. His hands and feet tingled like he still wore the suppressor cuffs.

Undyne’s gaze rose to meet him. Desperate and lost. “Do you know how to get downstairs?” She whispered in a dry voice.


	32. The Determination Extractor

Undyne held the paper in a vice grip. Sans approached and tugged on her arm to lower it. “Can I see?” Sans asked as he shuffled about next to her.

It was, of course, Alphys’ handwriting. That was plain to see from the scrappy lettering, written with a slight wobble to them. There were lots of roughly scribbled out words. It looked as if the original message was originally planned to be longer, but was eventually chosen to be shortened. Sans braced himself as he read carefully.

_‘Hey, it’s me. Obviously._  
_You’re probably aware I’ve been doing some research lately. I know it isn’t what I’ve been instructed to do, but the job of the royal scientist has always been finding ways to benefit monsterkind and ultimately break the barrier. I think I might have figured how to do that._  
_I’m not proud of my methods. I’m not proud of many things, really, and this is one of many that’ll keep me out of the history books. I’m sorry._  
_I’m onto something. I think I know what. Someone has been guiding me, but I can’t tell whether they want me to do this final step. I’m getting conflicting feelings. I can’t tell what he’s telling me. It feels like I’m going mad. I don’t know what’ll happen, maybe, I’ll be tossing this note away later, maybe not._  
_Undyne, I love you. Sans, I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise. Toriel, Sorry I keep letting you down._  
_Whatever happens, know that I’m doing this for you all._  
_Thank you and again, I’m sorry. Xx :)_

Sans stared at the paper for a long moment after he finished reading. “Let’s go.” He said simply, leading the way towards the elevator. 

Undyne followed at his heels, keeping the paper close to her chest. 

Sans reached up to the keypad, ready to enter the elevator’s unlock code. Strangely, he found it already unlocked. Always with something to hide, Alphys never left it open. The two climbed inside. The skeleton’s hand hovered above the list of floor numbers, unsure where to start. 

“Pap said she was living in one of the first-floor labs.” Undyne informed. Her words were strained but controlled, not letting too much emotion run through. 

After a bumpy ride, the door slid open at Basement Floor One. 

“Alph!” Undyne shouted once again. 

Still no reply. The quiet buzz of machinery greeted them. Automatic lights flickered on as their movement was detected. All the rooms along the corridor were immaculately cleaned, apart from the furthest door- Lab Room One. 

It was clear to see that Alphys had indeed been living in here. The clutter was overwhelming the desks and spilling onto the floor. A wall board had so much writing, it had turned into an indistinguishable mass of words. A second board had been leaned against the wall, more text covering it. 

Sans crept into the room, strangely careful not to disturb anything. He skimmed a pile of papers, some new, some old, some very old. One in particular dated back to the time of the first human to fall. The adopted child of the King and Queen, who had met an unfortunate fate. There was much writing about human souls and, of course, Determination. 

Undyne stepped inside, just as carefully. She stepped over a large set of blueprints, leaning down to examine them. Sans joined her. They were for a particular machine he recognised. An old relic which resided in the lowest depths of the building. 

“What was she researching?” Undyne asked in a hushed voice. 

“Umm. It’s complicated.” Sans replied, moving to Alphys’ computer, which sat propped up on a desk. He tapped at the keys and was greeted with a lock screen. It was ignored, the password not known. “She explained it to me a few times. Though I think her investigation moved far past what I know.”

“Mind explaining?” Undyne prompted. 

Sans started from the beginning, when the idea of repressed and altered thoughts was just a fun theory. How it had evolved past what both monsters had imagined and how an invisible hand had apparently been guiding Alphys through her research, in a way only she could see. 

While he spoke, they examined the tables. Microscopes and vials and empty noodle packets. Sans’ words trailed off as he approached a mini fridge, sat atop a table. It contained food, a box he assumed contained Flowey’s dust and vials of odd liquid. None caught his eye quite like a holder containing three vials of clear, bright red liquid. Twisting one, revealed a sticky label, reading ‘DT’. 

_Damn it Alphys._ He wasn’t surprised, unfortunately. The sight of the cursed stuff still unsettled him. 

Nearby, on the desk lay three empty vials. Their labels read the same. Red liquid had dripped and dried into the desk, leaving dark red stains. A needle with a red filled syringe sat beside. It had been nearly all used. Injected presumably into Alphys. 

“Sans?” Undyne called, as his explanation had abruptly stopped. 

“Don’t touch anything.” He said, stepping back from the desk. 

The two carefully made their way out into the quiet corridor, Undyne copying Sans’ cautious movements. “What?” The Captain asked. 

Sans met her concerned look. “What do you know about Determination?”

Undyne cringed, “Enough. I know it comes from humans and it doesn’t mix well with monsters. Alph experimented with it at some point, at Asgore’s orders. I know she regretted it.” 

That was good enough. Sans hurried towards the elevator once more. “Well, she’s using it again now. I think I know where to look.” 

He punched in the number for the lowest basement floor. The elevator jerked and jumped. A loud squealing, grinding sound set both monster’s nerves on edge. A floor above their destination, the lift jammed. Thanks to Undyne’s brute strength, the doors were forced open. Dark chilly walkways greeted the pair. Sans led the way. The air stale, a layer of dust covering everything. A distant sound, like banging pipes rang from a distance. 

Towards the nearest staircase, the two moved quietly. The sense of foreboding increased the deeper into the building they travelled. It was a large circular room with a higher walkway circling the edges, desks and large machinery lay below in the large open space. Dim emergency lights lit the way, the main lights apparently not working. It was strange to imagine this place being populated. Sans remembered this area being busy, mostly used by a team he was not part of. Commandeered by a group of researchers who preferred to investigate biology. They often brought back specimens of strange animals found in the caverns. They had enjoyed wildly talking about odd mushrooms and proposing the ideal conditions to grow powerful crystals. They always seemed like a nice bunch. Sans wondered what had happened to them, the group always seemed so passionate. Hopefully they took their love to the University, as many of his old colleagues had done.

As they reached the stairwell, a movement in the shadows caught the skeleton’s eye. He turned back, ushering Undyne past him. There was a dark figure. Slimy, undulating. It hid perfectly in the darkness, it gurgled in response to being seen. 

Sans hurried after Undyne, who was steadily descending the stairs. The Warrior still clutching Alphys’ note tightly in her hand. “Uhh, don’t suppose you know about any oh Alphys’ ‘pets’, do you?” Sans mumbled, attempting to hide his nerves. 

“Pets?” Undyne frowned in confusion. 

Sans sighed. “Forget it. Let’s just hope we don’t run into any.” He replied. The failed experiments roaming the lower hallways were something Sans had not taken into consideration. 

Undyne did not question any further, her mind focused on getting to their supposed destination. 

The lowest floor was much colder. The air conditioning whirred loudly in the distance. The lights didn’t work too well down here, either. A few buzzed as they flickered, illuminating a puddle of water which pooled from the bottom of a set of lockers. Sans moved around them carefully, giving the water a wide berth. Undyne was unsure of his movements but thankfully followed without question. Sans didn’t want to disturb anything down here, if he could. 

A large room full of gurneys greeted them. Sans scanned the room, seeing no sign of life. They were nearly at their destination now, Sans hoped he was wrong about what he expected to find. Though one could not be sure. If Alphys had injected herself, who knew what state she was in. 

“Hey.” Undyne said, as they crossed the room. She pointed to one of the beds, the cover slightly raised, like something lay within. 

Sans shook his head, “Don’t, let’s just go.” He said in a hushed tone.

“Why? It could be Alph.” 

“And it probably isn’t. Let’s go.” Sans stepped further towards the door. “C’mon.”

However, Undyne did not follow. Defiantly, she frowned, striding towards the irregular bed. 

_“Undyne!”_ Sans hissed angrily under his breath. The mounting pressure this place seemed drop upon him built the longer the pair were down here. They needed to be out as soon as possible.

He was once again ignored. The Captain stood over the bed, who’s cover rose and fell, like breaths. “Alphys?” She nudged the cover and peeled it back. Undyne gasped. 

Sans neared enough to see a thick whitish substance cling to the sheets. It’s consistency somewhere between watery dough and an unknown creature’s insides. It held no form, squirming and gurgling, dripping out of the bed onto the floor. Undyne let go of the bedsheet and stood back, shocked. 

“I said come on.” Sans called again. This time she hurried after him. 

“What was that?” 

“A mistake.” He answered, turning purposely down a different corridor than originally intended. Heading towards the air conditioning room. They were on full blast, too long like that could cause the system to, ironically, overheat. It could be a serious fire hazard if left. 

Undyne hissed at his partial answer, “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Alphys is a great scientist. Not all of her experiments have worked exactly as planned. That was one of her less successful ones.” Sans was in no mood for lengthy explanations of why Determination sucked. He pushed at a door, finding it did not budge. 

Undyne slammed a foot into it, with a crack, it flew open. Shards of ice shot about from the impact. An icy gale hit both monsters, the room was frozen, a good layer of ice covering the walls as the many cooling fans roared with life. Sans found the control panel and with a single button press, the fans powered down. The deafening noise quieted to a low hum. With the freezing blasts of air switched off, Undyne approached also. 

“Didn’t think Alphys liked the cold.” She remarked, checking how slippery the floor was. 

As if answering, a sound echoed around the room, from the back of the fans. Like someone had dropped a tool within the machines. The same white sludge spluttered out, dripping down the fans and collecting on the floor. A large mass which took a vague shape. Many grotesque faces forming on its melted features, twisting in gurgling anguish. 

“I don’t think it was Alph who wanted the cold.” Sans sighed, stepping away. “It probably doesn’t mean harm. Give it space and it’ll ignore us.”

Undyne’s magic buzzed in the air, ready to take form to defend herself if needed. She followed Sans as he edged around the room. 

As they neared the door, a panel clattered to the floor from above. With a splatter of white goo, a second similar creature splashed down onto the cold floor. It reformed the same as the first. Silently screaming faces swirling about its mass. They smelled like rotting damp. Undyne gagged audibly at the thing which now blocked their exit. 

Sans swore under his breath. The things regarded their intruders, their intentions lost in their garbled magic fields. Sans hoped they were just curious about their two visitors. Sans cleared his throat, “H-hey, nice to see you. I’d been keeping an eye socket out for ya.” He smiled. “I’m Sans, I know Alphys has told you about me. She always says my funny bone is broken, but hopefully you appreciate a little comedy. Do you know where she might be?” In the corner of his eye, he could see the ridiculous look Undyne was giving him. 

One of the former monsters remained unreadable, while the other noticeably relaxed. Alphys had reassured him more than once that calmly talking to these creatures was best when they were defensive. 

“Do you know where Alphys is? We’re her friends and we need to find her.” Sans tried once again. He poured his magic field into the room, expressing his good intentions. 

The calmer monster slid closer, its goo trailing behind, like a slug. It groaned a sound like distorted distant crying. Though Sans was unsettled, he let the creature approach. The thing was a little taller than he was, when its body inflated in a slow breathing motion. 

Undyne wasn’t quite so calm. She pressed her back to the frozen wall. Her feet slipping out from beneath her, Undyne loudly clattered to the floor, thanks to her armour. 

Startled by the noise, the two creatures flinched. Sans cringed, intensifying his magic in reassurance. “Hey, hey, it’s alright-.” 

“Get back you freak!” The Captain yelled, yellow eye glinting dangerously. 

The closest, inquisitive one made a sputtering sound, shooting the gloopy substance of its body out. The stuff splattered over the pair. Sans turned, preparing to call Undyne out for offending the strange being. Instead, he was met with a bright light.

Undyne’s magic manifested in the space. Arrows of hard light darted forwards, slicing into the approaching creature. It shuddered violently, the sound of crackling static sounded at its distress. 

“No!” Sans shouted impatiently at Undyne’s aggression. 

Its friend didn’t take kindly to the attack, pulling its mass upwards to gain height. It spewed gross goo from its body, across the floor. The spaces it landed began to sizzle and burn. 

Sans checked the one who was shaking off Undyne’s attack. Its souls was, well… a mess was putting it lightly. He was sure it wasn’t injured, because he was sure it couldn’t die. He grabbed Undyne’s hand and heaved her off the floor. 

Their exit was still blocked. Tugging her hand from Sans’ grip, Undyne summoned a spear into it instead. One slash through the air had more of the creature’s goo spilling onto the floor. 

The other retaliated with a strangely mechanical sound. Spraying out another wave of acid as it began to advance towards them, also.

Sans ducked behind Undyne in response to the attack. She mumbled profanities at the hiss of melting, the acid had caught her armour. Realising the situation was unsalvageable, Sans used his blue magic to grab the closest creature. They were difficult to get a hold of. Their soul seemed to appear and disappear from existence rapidly, it was a phenomenon the skeleton had never seen before. In a few tries, he managed to lift the sloppy thing from the floor and throw them to the back of the room. They hit the floor with a wet slap. Slime covering the room. 

With a clear path to the doorway, Undyne dashed, unnecessarily grabbing Sans by his hood and pulling him along. The door was pulled shut behind them, followed by the sound of one of the monsters slamming its gelatinous body against the door. 

Undyne held the door steady. Sans helped, though with little effect. A speaker system sat beside the door. It gurgled with static. Ominous voices rang through the crackling speaker.  
‘Hunger.’  
‘Join us.’  
‘Consume them.’  
‘Come back.’

Sans startled again at another lightning movement. Undyne’s fist smashed into the speaker. It crackled, shooting sparks, before dying. 

She held the door in place, looking ragged and tired. “What. Was. That?!” She whispered, voice somewhere between fury and distress. Her eye flashed wide and bright in the darkness.

“Failed experiments. Determination injected into dying monsters. They’ve been hidden down here for years.” Sans replied calmer than he felt. “They’re easily unsettled, they normally don’t attack, though they’re not keen on strangers. Probably hungry too.” 

“But h-how do they exist like that, how can they? Why haven’t they been put out of their misery?” Undyne retorted, sounding utterly baffled. 

“They have no choice. They’re determined, whether they want to be or not… They can’t die.” Sans explained. 

By now, the pair of creatures had become docile once more. The door had been left alone. A soft gurgle sounded from the other side. Sans took a few steps before waiting for Undyne. “C’mon. Let’s keep going.” 

Reluctantly, she moved. None of the acid had melted through her armour, thankfully, though a few holes had been melted into it. 

They moved quietly, covering as much ground as possible. Shadows danced and crept up walls. More knocking sounded from within the pipes. Their destination neared; a light shone from around a corner. 

“What the hell?” Undyne mused breathlessly. 

A huge machine loomed, lit dimly under a few softly working lights. Its dark red metal held a dull unrefined finish, eerily reflecting the ceiling lights. Created in the shape of a large animal skull, connected floor to ceiling by masses of tubes and wires. It turned the magic in Sans’ chest. Made something squirm within his bones. Something about this structure chilled him more than the icy cold air fans. 

“It’s the Determination Extractor.” Sans said without emotion. The large black featureless eyes unsettled him. It was like staring into the eyes of a looming predator. A primal fight or flight response begged to be answered, though Sans did not move. 

Undyne advanced first, she began to circle the machine upon the raised walkway they stood on. “What even…?” She questioned, open mouthed at the thing. Sans was thankful he wasn’t the only one strangely fearful of the thing. 

Willing himself to move, Sans closed up both entrances to the room, hopefully stopping any unwanted visitors. “It removes Determination from living beings. Usually killing them in the process, unless they have a soul strong enough to take it- like a human. Contrary to belief, many monsters do contain determination, it’s natural for all beings, in some level. We however, lack souls strong enough to use it. But, if you’re desperate, you can seek out the more courageous monsters amongst the populace and suck out their determination. Ya won’t get a lot, but if you’re desperate for the stuff, enough monsters will eventually get you some to work with… Unless you’ve got a spare human soul lying around.” Sans said. “Originally, it was only planned to ‘safely’ remove and inject Determination from and into someone. However, wild ideas and dimensional research resulted in this mess. Extra functions got added, which were never tested properly. Not the safest thing to be built down here.”

Undyne flashed him a wary look. “You seem to know a lot.” 

“I helped build it.” 

“Really? You couldn’t make it look any more welcoming?” Undyne said in what could have been a joking tone. 

Sans huffed in amusement, “That wasn’t my idea. My boss liked the freaky skull aesthetic. Same guy who designed this.” Reaching for his magic, the skeleton pulled a blaster head into being. It hung in the air, terrible, but unthreatening. 

Undyne eyed it with caution until the construct was dismissed into nothing. “Right.” She said. 

Sans moved to a control panel. The thing was powered on, it lay in sleep mode, quietly waiting for instruction. Lights on, machine on- this was the last place Alphys was. It had to be. 

Red lights flickered on from around the metal joins and a billow of steam huffed from the hydraulics. Sans struggled to remember how exactly it worked. His memory was scrambled in relation to the machine. Letting his mind go on auto-pilot, Sans took in the many buttons on the panel before him. A few taps of the control and the jaw began to raise. 

It should have been safe to enter the underside of the machine now. Access to the chamber was available, what he’d find within was still a mystery. 

Not wanting Undyne to look first, Sans stepped forwards. He descended the stairs into the open mouth of the machine. His soul beat rapidly, pulling his gaze away from the dark metal eyes, he ducked under the red metal opening. 

Sans sucked in a breath. He stopped. 

There lay a chamber for the test subject to stand within, lit with small white lights. Sitting at the bottom of the cramped space were a pair of glasses, beside a pile of dust. 

 

The pair sat on the stairs, before the huge machine. The Extractor powered down, its ghastly eyes staring mockingly at the friends. Undyne sat with the ball of screwed up paper in one hand, Alphys’ glasses delicately sat between the fingers of her other. Beside her, Sans stared at the ground. 

Sounds of the surrounding areas rang through the walls. They’d sat like this for easily over half an hour now. 

“You’re absolutely sure that it isn’t any other monster’s dust?” Undyne asked again, though she knew the answer. Her voice lacked its usual power. 

Sans shook his head. 

“You know how to use it, you can’t just do something and put the determination back into her?” She asked, desperately. 

“No.” Sans answered, the same reply as many other similarly phrased questions. “I’m sorry.” 

Undyne did not cry, be it shock or putting on a brave face. Neither did Sans. He just sat, letting the tiredness he felt envelope him.

“Did you know this would happen?” He was asked.

Sans sighed, he shrugged. “I was worried it might. I’d been trying to help, maybe make things better for her.” 

“And what a load of good you did.” Undyne bit back with heavy sarcasm. 

Sans had no retort to that. Maybe if he hadn’t been holed up in jail for the last two weeks, he could have been there for Alphys. If he’d just listened to her when she visited, maybe he could have caught onto something. If he hadn’t let her tests stay mostly secretive, maybe he could have convinced Undyne to look into her work prior to this happening. Sans had been through enough Resets, he should have read the signs and acted sooner… He hadn’t thought she’d do something like this, while with Undyne. I was a partly new scenario. If only he’d known, if only it’d had happened before like this. “I’m sorry.” Sans exhaled slowly.

It was Undyne’s turn to sigh. “No, I’m sorry. Shouldn’t say that. It ain’t your fault.” 

Some minutes later, Sans spoke once more. “Alph had a crack in her soul, one she’d had for some time.” He looked down to the crumpled note in Undyne’s hand.

The warrior nodded, like this was no real surprise to her, though Sans doubted she had been informed prior to this. “I know she wasn’t always happy. Do you think that was the whole reason for this?”

“Maybe? No?” Sans shrugged, finding it difficult to order his thoughts on a subject he didn’t want to believe was real. “Whatever she was trying to do, I know she was trying to help us in some way. Alph always felt like she needed to atone for the past. To her, I suppose this was fitting.”

“By past, you mean those things out there?” The Captain questioned.

Sans nodded. 

Undyne glanced down at him, “What do you think she was trying to do?” 

“I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I think she was trying to reach _him._ ” 

“Him?”

“The one who built this.” Sans gestured to the Extractor before them, “The previous Royal Scientist.” Sans’ head buzzed just trying to remember anything about the monster who held the title previously. Trying to recall the man’s face from his memory, Sans found he could not.

That rose Undyne’s attention. “You think she managed it?”

“No idea.” Sans said honestly, “If she did, I’m not sure that it’s a good thing, either.” 

 

When the two felt ready, they left Alphys’ dust in her final resting place. Finding shortcuts proved difficult, navigating so far underground with a passenger in tow. It was a huge drain on Sans’ magic. They resorted to making multiple jumps, rather than one straight journey. 

Sans had insisted that Undyne stay with the skeletons, she was in no state to be left alone right now, despite how she masked her grief. When the pair reached Sans’ doorstep, the skeleton was dizzy from excessive magic use. Undyne was dizzy also, thanks to the disorienting travel. Hot drinks and a good rest were in order.

Before they had chance to knock, the door was flung open. 

“Sans!” Papyrus tackled him to the ground, which without snow was quite uncomfortable. He was pulled up into a hug. 

“Aah! H-hey, bro. Little more gentle, please.” Sans squeaked as his cracked ribs were squeezed.

Papyrus dropped him immediately, kneeling down in front of the smaller skeleton, checking him over. He mumbled unintelligible gibberish, tugging at Sans’ hoodie. He was pulled back into a hug, more tender, less crushing this time. “You’re back. You’re back.” Papyrus muttered quickly, “I thought I wouldn’t see you again, I was so worried. I’m sorry for shouting at you. Are you ok? Are you hurt? I can tell you’re hurt.” 

Sans held him tight. Finally, he was home. Papyrus was safe and well. Papyrus didn’t hate him. For the first time since this whole ordeal began, Sans’ eyes welled with tears. He buried his head in his brother’s scarf. 

Undyne smiled sadly down at the siblings, giving them time. “I’ll make some drinks.” She said quietly, making her way inside. 

“Let’s go in.” Sans quickly suggested, breaking their hold. 

Papyrus sniffled, wiping his own eye sockets. He nodded, leading a very tired Sans inside and sitting him on the sofa. 

“Bro…” Sans started, “There’s something we need to talk about.” The words came slow and reluctantly, as Sans mentally braced himself. 

He was interrupted as the taller skeleton gasped in an overly dramatic fashion. Making Sans immediately assume something terrible was happening. “Do you have a black eye?!” 

Oh dear.

Papyrus rushed forwards, grasping Sans’ face in his hands. Tilting his head into the light to better examine the bruise which even Sans had yet to see. 

“Hey, hey. I’m fine, really.” Sans reassured, trying to pull himself out of Papyrus’s grasp. 

With another gasp, the skeleton snatched up Sans’s wrist, looking over the indent in the bone, left by the suppressor. This one did happen to look pretty bad. “What happened? Who hurt you? I’ll need to treat this, lucky I bought more medical supplies yesterday. We all seem to get through them so quickly!” 

Sans raised a hand to shush his brother. “S’ok. It was just some big stupid guy.” He smiled, noticing the bandages around Papyrus’s hands for the first time. He held back his own fussy nature in favour of dealing with the matter at hand. 

“Your brother is a badass.” Undyne called from the kitchen. “Blew the guy’s arm clean off!”

Another gasp, _“You did not!”_ Papyrus said in shocked disbelief. 

Sans shrugged, “Faulty suppressor, I guess.” He waited until Papyrus had gotten his flustered jabbering out of his system before continuing. “Hey, come sit down, we need to talk.”

Undyne placed mugs down in front of both brothers, joining them on the edge of the sofa. She looked more exhausted than ever. 

“Undyne is gonna be staying for a while.” Sans informed.

“Only if it’s ok…” She mumbled.

Papyrus lit up, “Oh, excellent! I love sleepovers! You know, I’ve been experimenting with a new pasta recipe, which I’ve been saving for an occasion-.”

“Papyrus.” Sans stopped him. His voice felt dead, it took a few tries of him opening and closing his mouth. He hated this, it was easier to lie. Why couldn’t he lie right now? “I... We, uhh…”

“Alphys is dead.” Undyne said, her voice hard. 

 

Not long later, Sans retreated to his room. He’d never been empathetically inclined enough to deal with emotional people. Today was proving to be a little overwhelming, so much had happened. He was finally home… But his friend was gone. Papyrus and Undyne were in bad shape downstairs. Sans concluded he needed a lie down. 

Kicking open the door, he nearly didn’t recognise his room. It was tidy. Actually tidy. No food stains on the carpet, or walls, in some cases. No piles of litter or dirty washing. His sock collection was gone. His papers were neatly stacked and all of his clothing was stored away neatly within his closet. The largest change struck him immediately. There was a bed. An actual bed with a new mattress. His old one sat propped upright, beside the door. 

Sans prowled around the foreign object slowly. It was weird, he’d never had a proper bed before. Though he held no attachment to his old smelly mattress, the change caught him by surprise. It looked comfy, much more than his old one and infinitely more than the damp bedroll he’d had the pleasure of sleeping on for the last while.  
Grabbing his phone, which sat in the corner of the pristine sheets, Sans wrote Grillby a message. It informed him of the skeleton’s release from jail. 

It was mere seconds before he got a reply.

‘Noticed. You were not in your cell. I will be with you shortly.’

Oops. Sans felt guilty for his friend’s wasted journey, though he couldn’t help his lack of communication. Grillby must have been eager to leave the Capital, if he was presumably already on his way. 

One motion from leaping into the bed, Sans stopped himself. He was absolutely filthy. Especially compared to the immaculate bed sheets. A hot bath sounded amazing.

 

Sans woke to someone lightly shaking him. Papyrus pulled his brother’s shoulders out of the water. 

“It sure is a good job you can’t drown. Falling asleep like that.” Papyrus remarked in a scolding tone. “Dare I ask why the whole room is covered in bubbles, despite you being in here several hours already?” 

Sans had been enjoying his nap. He sat up in the now cold water, suddenly chilly. “Hey, it’s a good job I’m not a robot, I’d be _syncing._ ” 

“Please, Sans, why are there bubbles on the ceiling? How much bubble bath did you use?”

“Two jars.” Sans replied, reclosing his eyes. 

“Two-! TWO JARS?!”

“I was having a bad time so I turned it into a bath time. That’s self-care, right?” Sans replied, not caring. 

Papyrus stood about sputtering for a while until he rebooted. “Anyway, I came to tell you that Grillby has arrived. He says he’s here to stay, thankfully we have enough beds, though it would have been good of you to inform me.” 

Sans peeked open his eyes, “Oh, right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Papyrus sighed, “The more the merrier, right?”

“Yeah…” Sans mumbled. He could see his brother was staring at the various bruises now mottling his bone, where they lay visible around the waters surface. “I’ll be out in a minute.” 

Papyrus jolted, returning to his senses. “Yes, yes. Good, thank you.” He made a quick turn back to the door. 

“Hey.” Sans called back. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” He tried to smile reassuringly. 

At the door, Papyrus stilled, a concerned look clear on his face. “Y-yes. Yes, I suppose you are. You’re here at least.” He said with a worn-out smile. The tall monster closed the door softly behind him. 

Sans sunk back into the water, internally pleading for five more minutes of peace. 

 

When Sans emerged from the still bubble-filled bathroom, he was greeted with the sight of Papyrus helping Grillby haul a few bags of belongings into Sans’ room.  
“S’up.” The skeleton greeted. “… So where is everyone gonna sleep?” 

‘Evening.’ The elemental nodded. His limp was noticeably better as was the colour and intensity of his flames. 

“Ah, there you are, lazybones.” Papyrus said, sticking his head out of Sans’ open room. “Have you seen how my great cleaning skills have attacked every dirty thing in here?”

Sans smiled, “I have. Pretty impressive I’d say.” He sauntered in, picking one of Grillby’s bags off the landing and carrying it into the room. “Where are my socks?”

“Probably in the dump by now.” Papyrus replied, the tiredness in his voice. “I’ve gotten rid of them.”

“What?! D-do you have any idea how long it’d taken me to get those? Stealing people’s socks is harder than people think.” 

Papyrus did a double take, “They were stolen?! Sans! How could you?” 

“One sock per person. Nothing wrong with that. What more is it than a mild inconvenience? It was a good, creative hobby.” Sans argued.

“No. No. We are not talking about this. Not tonight.” A hand was held up, effectively shutting down the discussion. Smoothing down the slightly rumpled sheets to perfection, Papyrus turned to their guest and forced a grin. “I’m very sorry for that…We have extra blankets and pillows. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, I tend to wake early so I’ll have tea on the stove for when everyone wakes, unless you prefer to wake later, which is also fine-.” 

Grillby lightly shook his head. ‘This is more than fine. My apologies again for the intrusion.’

The taller skeleton made an odd noise, “Truly, it is no intrusion at all. I’m glad you’ve chosen to stay with us, the more the merrier.” He chucked in a forced, overly hospitable way, though it was clear the words Papyrus spoke were genuine. “Speaking of tea, I’m off to fetch some for myself and Undyne, would you like some?”

‘No thank you, I’m rather looking to retire to bed. If you don’t mind?’ Grillby replied gently, leaning on the bedpost to support his weight. His movements were sluggish and held barely a fraction of the monster’s usual delicate precision. 

Sans tugged at the neck of his pyjama shirt, eyeing the flame monster’s damaged leg. He shouldn’t have walked all the way here from New Home. Sans wouldn’t have minded dragging him through a few shortcuts, rather than making the long walk. 

Papyrus walked swiftly towards the door. “Then I’ll see you both in the morning.” He said with awkwardly forced cheer, shutting the door loudly behind him. 

Sans and Grillby stood in silence, looking between the door and each other. The exchange continuing longer than would normally be deemed comfortable. That was strange.

“Uhh, so.” Sans began, itching a hand across his aching ribs. “Sorry I forgot to tell Papyrus you were heading over. There was a lot going on, too much emotion for my liking. I had to make a _clean getaway_. He joked, throwing a bundle of his gross clothes somewhere they wouldn’t be noticed. 

‘Is Undyne staying, also?’ The elemental questioned. 

Sans nodded, “Did they not tell you?”

‘Tell me what?’

The skeleton pushed himself into a seated position on the edge of the bed. “Alph’s dead.” He said plainly, devoid of emotion. Though his eyes couldn’t quite reach that of his friend’s as Sans spoke. 

Grillby took the seat beside him. ‘How?’

“Me n’ Undyne found her. In the lab. It looks like she dusted herself, but… I don’t know. She was experimenting, and knew whatever she was up to was risky. I don’t think death was her main goal, if it was at all. I… I don’t know.” Sans muttered, not wanting to talk about this tonight. He didn’t want to talk about it at all for that matter.

‘I’m sorry.’ Grillby said into his mind. He didn’t push for details, likely aware of Sans’ aversion to discussing the topic at hand. 

“You, uh, doing ok?” Sans changed the subject before things became too awkward. Slouching forwards lazily, the skeleton struggled to keep up anything resembling his usual grin.

‘Better to be away from the Capital.’ He sighed in apparent relief, a trail of smoke rising from Grillby. The cramped busy environments of the city were a large contrast from the peaceful Snowdin. It was of no comfort to one such as Grillby, who greatly preferred space and preferably isolated quiet. 

“I bet.” Said Sans, not really knowing where to go with this conversation. 

‘Are you alright?’

He shrugged, “You know me, I’ve got no more problems left to _patella._ ” The attempt at a light-hearted joke fell flat. Grillby stayed silent until Sans begrudgingly continued, “Happy to be home, I guess. Feels a little unreal.” 

‘How are your injuries?’ 

“Fine.” Sans tried to deflect. He noticed the other eying the now very exposed wrist, where layers of bone had been rubbed away.

The elemental reached towards it, ‘May I?’

Sans internally cringed, not enjoying this. “Sure.” 

The skeleton kept his eyes to the floor as his hand was gently examined. His magic coiled close to him defensively as Grillby’s temperature rose in poorly concealed anger. The feeling passed quickly, morphing into something more melancholy. Sans couldn’t decide which was worse, the idea that his friend pitied him for his experience was uncomfortable.

There was a flash of unexpected colour and a tingling sensation in the discoloured area of bone. Sans snapped his eyes back to see soft green flames rising from one of Grillby’s palms, where it flickered up, encircling his bone.

Instinctively, Sans snatched his arm back, a gasp caught in his throat. The healing flames in Grillby’s hand, died almost instantly. A subtly hurt look on his inexpressive face. 

“Sorry.” Sans quickly said. He hadn’t even registered that the other had been healing him, before flinching away like some scared animal. 

“Do not apologise, I should have asked.” 

Sans gave him an apologetic smile, “I’m just tired.” He pushed himself off the bed and stretched his shoulders, a few joints popping. “Think it’s time I headed to bed. Things will be less likely to rattle my bones after a decent sleep.”

‘Of course.’ 

The skeleton made his way to the door, stopping to shift his old faithful mattress. He denied help, though he found it was more easily moveable than expected, Sans dragged it through the doorway. 

‘Sans.’

“Huh?” He asked, looking back to see Grillby approaching him. 

The flame monster lifted his hand, slowly placing it on Sans’ shoulder, giving him plenty of time to react. Sans was unperturbed by the simple touch, which he suspected was the closest thing to a hug Grillby was willing to give. 

‘I’m glad you are home.’ His yellow eyes softened. The calm, mostly monotone voice betrayed a hint of relief. 

The skeleton chuckled, “Me too, buddy.”

Passing on the landing, it was dark downstairs. Sans noticed the shuffling of blankets on the sofa where Undyne hid. His heart sank with regret. She didn’t deserve this. He sighed sadly before continuing his route.

“Oh, Sans!” Papyrus chirped as his bedroom door was pushed open, followed by Sans sliding his old bed into the room and flopping it down onto the floor, tossing a blanket messily over it. Papyrus was hiding his emotion fairly well, though dark circles from a tearful evening were present under his eye sockets. “You aren’t staying with Grillby?” He sounded puzzled.

“With Grillby?” Sans questioned back. “Don’t know if you noticed, but there isn’t enough space in there for both beds.” He said, kicking the gross looking mattress into prime location on his brother’s floor. 

Papyrus frowned, but continued to get ready for bed without a further word. 

They said their goodnights. Papyrus reminding his brother how happy he was to have Sans home. Sans made a joke about only being gone for fifteen days. Helpfully, Papyrus informed that he’d actually been gone for sixteen, much to Sans surprise. He supposed all of the time had blended together.

Finally, warm and comfortable, sleep came easy.


	33. By order of The Queen

A tingling sensation awoke Sans. One he recognised from just hours earlier. Peaking open his eyes revealed very little light filtering through the window, it must have still been very early morning. A green misty glow sat before him. A hand hovering over Sans’ mangled wrist. 

“Hey.” Sans murmured, still very sleepy. The magic running through him was soothing and further made his eyes drop closed. 

A weight shifted behind Sans’ back. “Sorry I woke you.” Papyrus replied quietly. 

Wiggling his wrist, Sans softly spoke, “That feels better. Don’t waste any more of your magic on me.” 

“Why?” 

“Because you’re better saving it. What if you got hurt?” Sans mumbled, half asleep. 

The green light stopped and Papyrus smoothed a hand gently over the eroded bone of Sans’ arm. “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.” He said with a beat of emotion. “I wish you wouldn’t say anything like that." His hand folded inwards over the blanket which separated them. 

As the embrace tightened, Sans out a yelp as his damaged ribs were squeezed. This woke him up, if nothing else. 

Papyrus released his brother immediately, whispering quick apologies. Now that this had happened twice, Papyrus’s worry was felt through their close proximity. “How badly are you hurt.” 

“I’m not.” 

“Please don’t lie.” Papyrus whispered, moving to accommodate Sans’ uncomfortable squirming. 

“Just a few bruises, that’s all.” He sincerely wished those around him would stop drawing attention to his injuries.

“Can I check?” 

“Don’t believe me?” Sans grumbled back. Papyrus was as bad as Grillby for this kind of thing.

Another shudder of emotion ran through the younger skeleton. “Please.”

The gentle plea shook Sans, he sighed. “Fine. Tomorrow and only if I can check your hands.” He compromised, eyeing the thick bandages in the darkness.

Papyrus sighed in relief. “Thank you.” He tightened his hold on Sans once more, this time avoiding his ribs. 

Sans expected him to leave and go back to bed, however it seemed Papyrus had other plans. The closeness of his brother was comforting, if not a little overwhelming, after being deprived of all but fleeting contact over the last while and having his magic almost entirely locked down. Now, he was finally able to express his magic to the fullest once more. It was like finally being able to see or feel once more. 

For the first time in over two weeks, Sans felt safe. 

He wanted to do something enjoyable to celebrate, even if that was just a day sat in front of the TV. He wanted to relish the feeling of his little victory of getting out of that terrible place. 

And yet he could not bring himself to. 

Everything which had happened in the time he’d been gone- Papyrus witnessing what happened to the bug couple, Grillby being attacked and losing everything he had, and, of course, Alphys. He wasn’t around when she needed him. Sans had shooed her out when his friend had come to visit. He’d known Alphys nearly his whole life, she was the last remaining fragment of his old days, as a scientist. Now she was gone, there was no one to remember that time with. Sans had been the only monster she’d shared her secrets with, and he her, for many. And when she’d tried to approach him, clearly distressed and not in her right mind, he had been argumentative and unreasonable. Sans might have been the last one to speak to her. 

Possibly reading off Sans’ magic, Papyrus spoke up, very quietly once more, “Is she really gone.” 

“Yeah.” Was all Sans could say. Whatever the circumstances of her death, whether intentional or not, the fact remained that Alphys was indeed, dead. There was no explanation, not that Sans could make sense of, anyway. 

Papyrus gripped tighter, “I visited her, a week ago. She let me in, even though she wasn’t letting anyone else in.” His breath shuddered. “S-she looked unwell, I could tell something wasn’t right, I just thought she was too interested in whatever she was working on, to want to see her friends.” 

Moving his hand to clutch Papyrus’s arm, Sans tried to fill his magic field with calming energy. That was what Grillby did, right? It couldn’t be that difficult. “Hey, you couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” 

“Maybe. But I should have expressed my concerns a little m-more forwardly. I could see something was wrong.” 

“You and me both.” Sans sighed. From the unsteady breathing behind him, Papyrus was fighting back tears. Sans was having more success, if only slightly.

“I-I’m sorry I got mad at you. I’m sorry I couldn’t visit more, I t-tried but-.” 

“Don’t worry, bro. I don’t blame you, probably deserved it.” Sans’ supposed relaxed aura was clouded by anything but calm. He gave up on the idea at that. 

“Please don’t say that!” It was said louder and more insistent. As if Sans had just uttered something offensive. “I worry about you a lot, Sans. I know you hide t-things away and I know you can’t talk a-about any of it… But it,- it scares me a little sometimes because it f-feels like I-I don’t know you…” With that, his shoulders shook and Papyrus buried his face into their shared pillow. 

Sans sat up, readjusting the blanket around them before settling back down. He pulled Papyrus into a tight hug of his own. Papyrus perhaps _didn’t_ know Sans as well as he thought, that was the troubling reality of it. Sans had just hidden his secrets for so incredibly long now, that this wasn’t something which ever really came to mind. It was a saddening thought, and one Sans could say very little to defend himself from. So, he stayed quiet.

“I hoped you’d s-say something.” Papyrus sighed, disappointed that his brother had not even attempted to defend himself. 

“S-sorry.” He could only whisper. 

Papyrus continued, despite his emotional state. “Alphys kept secrets too.” 

“I know.” 

“I-I don’t w-want-.” The skeleton cut himself off as his breath caught. Papyrus pulled Sans still impossibly closer.

Though the position upset his ribs, the closer Papyrus pulled him, Sans swallowed down the feeling. It was better to focus on than his own building tears or what exactly his brother was implying. Sans changed the subject quick. “Hey, you’re just gonna work y-yourself down to the bone, if you keep thinking like that. Undyne t-told me about everything you’ve been up to… Sounds like you’ve been s-super busy.” 

Papyrus nodded, his head pressed against Sans’ chest. He clung possessively to the smaller monster’s shirt, like he might turn to dust under his fingers. 

“I heard I’m back home, b-because of you.” Sans continued, lightly tapping his finger tip against the back of Papyrus’s skull. “Undyne said you’ve been m-making her really proud. And, Grillby told me all about how you saved him, too. How’d you do that?”

“Um, I… I used my magic l-like a force field so I could walk through the fire.” Papyrus said without looking up. 

“Ya see? That’s awesome.” Sans grinned, despite the mild distress he felt, thinking of the many ways that could have backfired. “You’re a _bone-a fide_ genius for t-thinking of that.”

“I still m-managed to stab Grillby in the leg though.” Papyrus sulked.

“Pfft, who c-cares? I’m sure Grillbz would take being alive with a few chunks missing, over not at all. And trust me, he understands the decision you made. I doubt y-you could have stood around asking the audience for advice, could you?” Sans joked.

“Heh, I suppose not.” 

The two stayed that way for a while. Content that, though the world around them was pretty shaky, they were both still okay. 

“Hey.” Sans called some time later, “You going back to sleep?” 

“Probably not.” Papyrus mumbled in response.

“Me neither… You wanna watch some cute animal videos?” 

At that, Papyrus finally stirred, looking up from where he’d buried his head. 

“Heh, works every time.” Sans smiled, knowing he wouldn’t be getting any sleep either, with how his mind raced. “Which animal d’you wanna start with?” 

“Emu.” Papyrus said instantaneously

“Hmm. Interesting choice.” Sans smiled. He really was glad to be home. 

 

Sans was awoken by something nudging his side. He and Papyrus had eventually gotten some sleep after a slew of silly animal videos. In response to the disturbance, he turned over, intent on continuing his nap. 

“C’mon, goofball. We’ve got reports to give.” Undyne’s voice sounded from above. 

Sans creaked open his eyes, with great effort. It was strange, he’d half expected to see the dark walls of his cell. “Reports?” He groaned. 

“Toriel wants to see us.” She bluntly informed. Undyne definitely hadn’t slept. Her fins drooped and her hair was a mess. Her eye was a dull yellow, not holding it usual gleam. 

Sans nodded, sitting up. From the light pouring through the window, he’d been allowed to sleep in fairly late. “What time?” 

“Early afternoon.”

“Formal?” He asked with a grumble.

“Yeah.” The Captain sounded impatient. 

“Do I have to?” Sans whined, closing his eyes again. 

Undyne yanked his pillow from under his head before tossing it back in Sans’ face. He startled at the unexpected attack, scrambling his arms. “Yes, make sure you’re there.” She hissed, “Bring Grillby, she wants to see him too. I’ll meet you there.” The monster strode towards the exit.

The sound of her banging on Grillby’s door echoed throughout the house.

“Must you, Undyne? I haven’t even brought them their morning tea.” Papyrus called from downstairs, his tone somewhere between offended and sympathetic for those being disturbed. 

 

Undyne left soon after. There was an odd atmosphere over breakfast. Papyrus, who had eaten hours ago, made the late risers bowls of oatmeal. Sans couldn’t help but cringe, viewing it as just another weird variant of porridge, which had unsurprisingly become his least favourite dish. Overall, the oatmeal wasn’t too bad. 

Grillby was unsure why Toriel had summoned him. When Sans grumbled about it requiring ‘formal’ ware, the elemental gave an apologetic look. He no longer possessed anything formal in his limited wardrobe. Sans waved him off, reassuring that Toriel wouldn’t care if they showed up in their pyjamas. 

Speaking of formal… 

Papyrus had tidied Sans’ room wonderfully. Everything looked neat and proper. Sure, there were bald patches on the carpet and some odd stains on the walls which Grillby eyed suspiciously. The elemental watched with interest as Sans noisily rummaged around, trying to find his Royal Judge outfit. He’d hidden it well before, for the very reason of Papyrus snooping or accidentally finding it. It was so well hidden, he barely remembered where it had been. Adding to his confusion, his whole room looked different now. At least when it was messy, Sans knew where everything was. 

‘Are you sure you don’t require help?’ Grillby asked again.

Sans sighed in agitation as he bumped into a stack of books, toppling them over. “No, no. it’s fine.” 

Only a short time later, Sans stomped over to the staircase, “Hey, Papyrus! Don’t suppose you’ve found any… weird costumes in my room?” 

Moments later, Papyrus bound up the stairs. He stopped in the doorway. “Look how messy it is already! You’ve only been in here for five minutes!” 

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I’ll clean it later.” 

Papyrus shuffled around in Sans’ closet before pulling out a dark grey box. The royal crest emblazoned in gold upon the lid. “You mean this Halloween one? It’s pretty strange looking.” 

Sans looked relieved to have it found so easily, “Found it in the dump, or somethin’.” Sans tried to lie.

“I hope you’re not going to any parties without me.” Papyrus joked, passing the box to his brother. 

“Hah, not today. I think I’m all partied out after the last few weeks.” He smiled. 

“Well I wouldn’t be wearing that, even to a fancy-dress party, it’s not the most flattering, though it is very fancy!” Papyrus said before departing. 

Grillby stood flicking through one of the many science books to have fallen down. He idly turned the pages revealing that the textbook hid a joke book, another science book, another joke book and finally a rather… explicit magazine. Without reacting, Grillby placed it onto a neat new pile he was reforming. ‘Are they all like this?’ He asked, clearly not bothered by the oddity of his findings, as he collected another, finding similar contents. 

“Not all of them.” Sans said defensively. “I just like science books, you know? They have a certain _magnetism_ to them.”

‘Does this class as science?’ Grillby lifted the next book he picked out, in presentation, showing Sans what he was referring to. It displayed… well. ‘Birds and the bees’ was putting it mildly. 

“I think you’ll find that’s biology.” Sans replied in a know-it-all voice. He pulled the lid from the luxury looking box and tossed it haphazardly aside. Folded beautifully within, sat the official garb of the Royal Judge. Sans’ face twisted into a look of disgust. 

‘That looks brand new.’ Grillby remarked, placing down his copy of what pretended to be ‘Physics Through the Ages’. 

“I’ve only worn it once.” Sans grumbled. With his fingertips, he tugged the offensive item out of the box, as if it were a hazardous material. It was magnificently tailored, mostly a dark grey fabric, some parts a rich black. Layered, with gold thread and trimming. The back was especially well embroidered, the royal crest surrounded by the same impressive gold patterning. It sported padded shoulders, a hood and a long cloak-like trail draping around the front and resting gently at the back. Made only to fit the skeleton. 

Leaning close, Grillby looked in detail at the material and patterning. His magic thrummed with the interest of discovering a hidden treasure. ‘It’s quite something.’

“A joke is what it is.” Sans huffed, tossing it to his much more enthusiastic friend. 

‘Is it supposed to be worn this little time?’ 

“No, I’m supposed to wear it whenever I visit royalty and whenever I carry out my ‘duties’. Never followed that though. The whole point of the Judge is anonymity, sorta kills that when you’ve got a big dumb spooky suit on. Dunno if I’m even supposed to have it anymore, since I’m not even the Judge.”

The elemental laid it delicately on the bed, keeping it perfectly flat and creaseless. ‘You don’t like it?’

“Look at it!” Sans laughed, as if that was all the evidence Grillby needed. “It’s ridiculous!” The offending item was pulled off the bed and shoved over Sans’ head, on top of his pyjamas. Preferring his clothes on the baggy side, it clung to him in a way that felt particularly uncomfortable. It would possibly be better without the night shirt underneath, but Sans was unwilling to put in any extra effort for this thing. The cloak was tugged down roughly, to cover his shorts. It fell to near the floor, his bone showing, just above the ankle. Sans though it looked rather stylish with the addition of pink slippers. Worn by a monster Papyrus’s height or taller, the cloaks trailing fashion would have looked impressive, complimenting their height. It did not look the most flattering when shrunk to Sans’ proportions, it instead resembled a weirdly fitting dress.

Grillby moved in to precisely shuffle the garment into place, adjusting the shoulders. ‘I can see the neck of your shirt sticking up. It would be best removed.’ 

“The shirt stays.”

‘Then the hood may hide it, if it were up.’ 

Sans flipped the heavy hood onto his head, where it fell down, covering most of his face. “This is why I can’t wear the hood. It sucks… Though I suppose I could nap under here without anyone knowing.”

‘Possibly. What about shoes?’ The fire monster tried.

That made Sans laugh. “Oh, the shoes. Well, it’s supposed to come with knee high leather boots, like what Papyrus wears, but edgier. I was told I’d look better without them, thanks to my ‘stature’. Best just wear black shoes and socks, or whatever.” 

‘Do you have those?’

“Nope!” Sans grinned widely in near triumph. 

‘I see…’ Wisps of smoke rose as Grillby sighed at Sans’ lack of standards. 

“So I guess this’ll have to do. I’m wearing most of it, right?” The way it hugged his bones, coming in tightly around the waist, was a style the skeleton was not accustomed with. “How do I look? Ta-daa!” Moving to twirl dramatically on the spot, Sans forgot the cloak, tripping over it and nearly face-planting into his bed post.

‘I think it looks good.’ Grillby said, his words sounding worryingly genuine.

“Even _Papyrus_ doesn’t think it’s cool! I look like one of those medieval weirdos, about the execute someone for stealing a loaf of bread.” 

‘… Isn’t that rather the point?’ 

“C’mon, let’s go. The sooner we’re done, the sooner I can ditch this thing for another few years.” Sans huffed, grabbing Grillby by the arm before teleporting away.

 

“Look who got all dressed up!” Toriel beamed as she beckoned the pair inside. “Grillby! What a delight to see you again.”

Sans ignored her pun, “Excuse me, I had to wear this _thing_ , but where’s _your_ party costume?” Sans questioned, remarking at The Queen’s casual dress and large slippers, which nearly matched Sans’.

She giggled, “I actually thought you wouldn’t bother.”

“Seriously?” The skeleton replied in a pained voice. “Can I go home and change?”

Toriel tutted, draping an arm around Sans’ shoulder, leading him to the dining room table. A pot of coffee already sat at its centre, alongside a towering tray of biscuits. “Oh, don’t be silly! He looks dashing, doesn’t he, Grillby?” A kind glance was sent the elemental’s way.

“I _will_ be dashing, if you don’t stop talking about it.” Sans grumbled.

Grillby nodded subtly, ‘I agree that the outfit looks rather good.’

Toriel turned to him with a loving smile, “I’m so glad you could join us. I’ve been informed of what has befallen you of recent, I am so terribly sorry.”

‘Thank you.’ He replied, probably not wanting to discuss the matter further. 

They didn’t have to wait long until Undyne appeared. Her forcefully neutral expression erupted into laughter as she took in Sans’ outfit. 

“It’s not _that_ bad!” Sans called defensively, not believing his own words. 

“It kinda is.” Undyne said, plopping down into a seat at the table, twisting it around to lean forward against the back of the chair. Though she wore her own impressive decorative armour (which still bore the dents and marks of her tussle with Sans), Undyne did not bat an eyelid at Toriel’s lack of such. The Captain leaned over to fist-bump Grillby in greeting. Though she kept up a strong appearance, any friend of Undyne’s could tell she hid an uncharacteristic vulnerability. 

“So.” The Queen began, lowering her large coffee mug to the table. “Undyne has already informed me. About Alphys.” There was a pause, “I am so very sorry.” Toriel said simply. 

Nobody said a word. Sans picked at his overly embroider sleeve. He didn’t dare look at Undyne. 

Toriel sighed, “I’m afraid we need to talk about it.” She sounded just as reluctant as the others felt.

After a few more agonising moments passed, Undyne reached for a pocket. She pulled out a severely crumpled slip of paper and the small pair of glasses. Both were handled with the greatest of care and the paper untangled and smoothed out. Alphys’ note was handed to Toriel, with the care and reluctance that it might have contained the last living fragment of the Scientist herself. 

Sans watched Toriel go through the motions of reading and rereading Alphys’ final words. The boss monster eventually sighed and placed it back onto the table. Tenting her fingers against her nose, her tired eyes were thoughtful and serious. 

It wasn’t the first time the skeleton had witnessed this near exact scenario play out. While many other horrid occurrences had lost their sting over the years of Resets, things like this only got worse each time. Always the observer, he silently took in the scene, until he was called on. 

“Can anyone shed any light on these experiments?” Toriel asked.

Glancing at Undyne, she glared hard at the tabletop. The monster gripped onto her chair with enough force that the wood was slowly splitting, her hands shaking. 

Realising the burden was on him, Sans spoke up. He explained it simply, what Alphys had been working on. Followed by a brief recount of the previous day, when he and Undyne had visited the lab. At Toriel’s request, a more detailed discussion of Alphys’ research followed. Going from the beginning. The same talk he’d given Undyne as the pair searched for their friend. 

All listened intently, Toriel threw in a query or two but surprisingly, Grillby offered up several intelligent questions throughout the talk. By the end, Sans felt like a physics lecturer; he’d have fit in nicely at the University. 

Toriel already knew of Determination and its previous uses. She had been under the impression that Alphys had disposed of the remaining substance shortly after taking up her role. Sadly, Sans informed her that this had not been the case. 

“There are creatures in the basement.” Undyne growled, making all others fall silent. The Captain had yet to speak or even lift her gaze since Sans’ explanation began.

“Pardon?” Toriel blinked, unprepared for such a statement.

In keeping with his promise to Alphys, Sans had never told anyone about the Scientist’s ‘pets’. Of course, this excluded Undyne the previous day, though this had been unavoidable. Even with nobody to feed the amalgamations down below, they would be fine. Grumpy, but ultimately fine. For that reason, Sans had never bothered to inform anyone, when Alphys had ‘gone missing’ in previous timelines. Afterall, those would inevitably be erased after a short time. Internal dilemma aside, it was likely the world was not going to be Reset this time, for now at least; as Sans eternally reminded himself these days…

“There are creatures in the basement.” Sans repeated Undyne’s words with a sigh. 

He launched into yet another explanation, this one getting slightly more of a reaction. It seemed nobody could quite believe Alphys could not only experiment on other monsters but then hide them from their families. Sans reminded them that her intentions had always been nothing but good, though ultimately fear driven decision making had overshadowed anything from the project which may have been salvageable. 

Thankfully, due to his expert knowledge, Sans was able to offer a solution. “Just send ‘um back to their families.” He shrugged. 

Undyne huffed in what was maybe amusement, maybe disgust. “How… how would that even work?”

“They’re unstable, but I think- in fact, I know; that putting them back in an environment and with people they understand, will go a long way in mending them. I’m not saying they’ll ever completely change or anything, but it’s what they need… Either that, or whoever inherits that building is gonna have an interesting surprise.” Sans explained, “Trust me, they aren’t violent by nature, just very lonely.”

Toriel seemed to like his hopeful words. She nodded, eager to find a solution to this sudden problem. “Would you be the one to retrieve them from the lab, Sans?” 

The skeleton laughed, “No way. I’m never going back into that basement as long as I live, if I can help it.” He said. “I’ll advise, but that’s all you’re getting out of me.”

Undyne spoke up, her expression critical. “And you know this because of your… thing? You sure just reintroducing them back into society would work?” 

“Yeah. Don’t worry, by head isn’t as empty as it looks.” Sans smiled back at her. 

As the group called the discussion to conclusion, Toriel rose to make more drinks. Undyne still looked tense. 

“Hey.” Sans gently nudged his elbow towards Undyne, noting how ridged she still looked. “Just breath, yeah? That’s the hard part done.” He encouraged, expecting a snappy response.

Surprisingly, Undyne took his advice, breathing several deep inhales, exhalating slowly. She returned her own encouraging half smile, “Yeah, you’re right.” 

Sans reached for the pot of coffee when it finally landed on the table. Annoyingly, his long draping sleeve caught the table edge, making Sans nearly spill milk over himself. He hissed a curse under his breath. “Tori, why am I wearing this Halloween costume? I was in prison yesterday and I’m technically not even the Judge right now.” Sans stated, dramatically gesturing to himself. 

Toriel paused the movement of her coffee mug. “Ahh, yes. I was hoping we could move onto that.” She slid over a piece of paper, only a glance was needed to tell Sans it was some form of important documentation. “Myself, the council and Undyne have come to an agreement. It seems my distaste for old tradition is of serious minority. It has been argued to me more times than I can count, that the Judge is an integral part of our society. Not one to disappoint, we have made some compromises and come to a solution.” 

On the edge of his seat, Sans was once again caught up in a whirlwind of emotion.

Toriel giggled at his sudden change of expression. 

‘Should I leave for this?’ Grillby asked.

“Oh, not at all, my dear.” Toriel smiled. She turned back the skeleton, “Sans, we would like you to reclaim your previous role, with some changes to your responsibilities. Most drastic of those being, you will no longer report directly to me, but rather to Undyne.” 

“What? So… so I’m a member of the Guard?” Sans asked, piecing together what that would mean. 

“Yep.” Undyne replied. “If recent events have told me anything, it’s that we need a soul seer in our ranks. Your assignments will change regularly, and your anonymity as Judge will stay.”

“… Okay…” Sans processed slowly. “What about the Hall?” 

Scratching at the fur along the bridge of her nose, Toriel answered. “Visits to the Judgement Hall will be available less often, rather than the near ‘all day, every day’ system like before. It’ll give you time to carry out what Undyne asks of you. What you do in there will stay the same. I believe you to be good and more than capable of that side of the role.”

“The Hall sucks though.” Undyne continued. “It’s optional. No real criminal with a brain in their head is gonna go, if they think they’ll be dusted. Waaay back in the old days, it wasn’t optional. There was less freedom back then. It was a terrible system, but it worked. So, as a half-way solution, we’re taking the Judge out of the Hall.” 

“So I just covertly walk around, noting down anything that might be concerning, and report back to you?” Sans filled in the blanks.

“Effectively, yes.” Undyne replied, “It gives ya’ more chance of keeping tabs on concerning individuals, this also gives you the freedom to take action against them, if the situation were to be immediately threatening. In regards to the assignments I mentioned… well, there’s loads, really. For starters, we can focus on your brother’s murder case. I’m fed up with it, we need to find the culprit before anything else happens. I’d like your help with that.” 

Sans looked rather offended, “I’m already helpin-.”

“No, Sans.” Undyne sternly stopped him. “I mean real helping. Not… whatever it is you do.” She sighed, “It has also come to my attention more than ever recently, that there are many people taking issue with my staff. I believe they may be due for a review of sorts.” 

He couldn’t help but grin at that. He’d take this job if only to see the look on some of those prison guard’s faces as they were dispensed some hardcore justice. 

Toriel took a sip from her coffee, “You will continue your work as a Sentry.” The Queen flashed a glance at Undyne. Sans could guess that Toriel wondered why ‘Sentry’ was still an active position associated with the Guard, when it was utterly redundant of purpose. He was sure that everyone knew the reason was Undyne’s secretly big heart; she didn’t want to let any of her friends go, nor make them feel useless. “I would also ask that you continue to keep an eye out for others who may have a soul seeing ability, training a successor is most important.” 

Whatever. “Is that it?” Sans asked, hoping that was all. It sounded like they wanted him to have less time off, which Sans was not all too cool with. Otherwise, it sounded pretty excellent. 

“Indeed. Any questions?” Toriel asked.

Nodding quickly, Sans asked, “Do I need to wear this at all?” He tugged at the front of his dress-thing. 

The Queen hummed a laugh, “Not if you don’t want to… Unless Undyne says you must.”

“I might…” The warrior warned, giving Sans the most genuine grin he’d seen from her in a while. 

“I feel like I should have asked this before…” The skeleton mumbled, “But I haven’t even been out of jail for twenty-four hours. Of which I was in because I apparently killed two people. My stats- well, you’ve seen my soul. And, it’s- it’s _me!”_ He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdly high amount of evidence against why Sans should be the last monster in the Underground to hold such a position. “You sure you want me?” 

Toriel laughed openly at that, “Sans! Have some confidence in yourself. It’s not too different to your old role.” 

‘Are you sure you want him? Sans even likes to steal socks.’ Grillby… joked?

“D-did you just tell a joke?” Sans questioned in mild shock. 

A delicate, fancy ink pen was pushed towards the smaller monster, along with the paper. Re-reading the contract quickly, Sans messily signed the paper, getting ink all over his hands in the process. 

He was filled with a nervous trepidation. This was quite different to what he’d been taught to do all those years back. What would his old mentor say if he could see him? Sans couldn’t imagine, unable to even recall the person further than a tall blurry silhouette. 

“Smile, Sans.” Said Toriel, pulling him out of his thoughts, “You’re the official Royal Judge.” 

 

The Queen insisted that the four of them go for a walk around the castle. She walked beside Grillby, eagerly chatting. “I hear you’re staying with Sans and his brother, correct? Your establishment was your only work, was it not?”

‘Indeed, I am staying with them. I have never known a monster with hospitality quite like Papyrus, he is exceptionally generous.’ Grillby replied in his usual soft voice, eyeing the fine decorations which lined the long hall the group walked down. “To answer your second question, yes, also. I’m not sure what to do with myself, I can hardly remember a time before the bar.’ 

“I see. Have you thought about whether you’d like to move elsewhere?” Toriel asked. 

‘If given the option, I would stay in Snowdin. I believe it to be the only area of the Underground I am content within.’ It was said with such relaxation, that one would find it difficult to believe the pair were discussing a topic of such hurt. 

“Not Hotland?” Toriel asked, with interest.

Grillby shook his head, ‘Unfortunately, I find myself at odds with many of it’s inhabitants. Elementals of my kind tend to be particularly territorial. Snowdin is far more hospitable, despite the cold.’ 

She gave him a knowing grin, “And Sans, of course.” 

‘Yes.’ He sighed, ‘I suppose there’s that too.’

Sans tried not to laugh. Poor Grillby.

“Hey.” Undyne called, “You ever thought about Sentry work?” She asked the fire monster in question.

‘Not particularly, though I would not be opposed to it.’ 

Undyne caught his eye, “You wanna job?” 

Grillby looked between the other three monsters, presumably stunned into silence. Sans was also surprised by the offer. ‘Is this a joke?’

“Nah! I’m not that bad. Me and Tori were thinking about it.” Undyne confirmed. 

‘I have a criminal record and no combat training.’ Grillby replied.

“Which is fine.” Toriel smiled gently, “Everyone makes mistakes when they’re young. From what I’ve heard, you had quite the fiery personality back then.” 

Sans hummed in appreciation of her joke. “We all know you can defend yourself.” He reminded, thinking back to the news reports which had caused so much bother.

Undyne followed, “You know all of the other Sentries, the dogs love you. And, well, there’s the skeletons, I guess. Or should I just say Papyrus?” She shot a look at Sans, who just smirked. 

They all looked at Grillby, awaiting his decision. Clearly, the unexpected choice was forcing his mind into overdrive. Eventually he answered. ‘Are you sure? I wouldn’t be a burden?’ 

Both Sans and Undyne erupted into laughter, while Toriel’s smile only widened. “You see, I think it would be perfect for you, at least until you’re back on your feet.” She said sweetly. 

‘Then it would be an honour.’ The flames curled around him in what may had resembled delight. Grillby’s jagged mouth, became visible for a second as it curled into a smile. 

“I’ll sort some armour or somethin’.” Undyne said dismissively. 

The idea caught Toriel, seemingly jogging a thought of her own. “I may have something.” She announced, marching the group at a fast pace further into the castle.

A few turns later and a long hallway greeted them. On one wall lay an array of warm stain-glass windows. Tall and depicting various moments in the monster’s history. Old kings, great battles, vast green civilisations upon the surface and huge horrific beasts, presumably monsters who had managed to take a human soul. The idea of them being so readily available on the surface was an odd thought. Nowadays, the idea of a monster and human soul merging was closer to legend, it was nearly unheard of, anymore. The idea of that old world on the surface, many lifetimes ago, interested Sans greatly. 

Lined under the windows, stood many sets of armour, each suiting a different kind of monster. One had six arms and was embellished with an older royal crest than the current kingdom. Another was even smaller than Sans and resembled the shape of a monkey. A long one in many pieces, suiting a snake or even centipede looking monster, it looked newer than most. Another was very rusted, pieces of it missing, the metal ripped open and dented horribly. A tattered cape draped behind. The patterning was not dissimilar to the decorative armour Undyne wore. This was likely to have belonged to a great old knight, who died in their armour. 

“Here.” Announced Toriel, stopping before an interesting looking set. It stood as individual pieces, rather then a whole suit.  
The breastplate was a light but protective metal, halfplate, with a scale-like chainmail around the abdomen, with protective pauldrons connecting down onto the chest plating. Vambraces and gauntlets connected separately to the arms, the legs similarly, with fasteners to be attached to boots. It was made to be worn with a protective under fabric. Each piece carried a matte silver finish and bore a flowing flame motif, which was especially effective flowing up the arms. Small hooded holes lined the sides of each armour piece, in protected places. Breathing holes, as Sans realised. Two long thin pieces of blue fabric trailed down, one on each side of the lower back.  
The helmet was… strange. It resembled a raindrop shape, the top forming a spout, like a teapot. Small round eyeholes covered the front. 

“Hmm, that one’s pretty cool.” Sans commented.

“Well, it’s built to get pretty _hot._ ” The Queen corrected. “This was made for a fire elemental. It looks new because its original wearer didn’t get much use out of it. A female of blue flames, if I remember. Fought during the war that put us down here, I believe she died shortly after the first settlements were built, if my history is correct.” 

She turned to smile at Grillby, who was taking in every inch of this thing. If he’d looked at Sans’ Halloween costume dress-thing with affection; then the way he was staring at this made Sans think his friend might just run up and start kissing it. 

“Helmet is weird as shit.” Undyne remarked, hands on her hips. The armour she wore was nearly the same silver and blue. Hers being much more intricately crafted and sporting a finer cape. 

“I agree.” Toriel said thoughtfully. She reached up and pulled the helmet off the stand with a pop. “There, much better.” She smiled. “It’s just about your size, Grillby.  
‘What?’ He snapped back to her, suddenly being spoken to. ‘It is quite beautiful.’ 

“I do quite like this one. Shame the blue isn’t yellow or something. Though blue and orange compliment well enough. I suppose you could change the fabric if you wanted.” Toriel still looked between the metal and the flame monster in question, measuring both up with her eyes. 

Grillby appeared to come to a realisation. His eyes wide and yellow, darted up to Toriel’s face, trying to determine whether he was hearing her correctly. 

Sans and Undyne both smirked, catching each other’s eye. 

‘Wait. I-I couldn’t. It’s a relic.’ 

The Queen tutted, “No, it’s a load of trash. All of this is.” She motioned down the whole corridor. “My husband may have appreciated the history of these, I however have no interest. If they are not being used, then they are scrap. In my opinion, we might as well use them.” She looked over to where her Captain stood watching, “Undyne, do you like these more than me?” 

Undyne shrugged, “Probably? The history of them is pretty interesting.” She gave a half smile. “And the rusty beaten up one is kinda cool.” 

“Then you can have them!” Toriel said without care. “You decide what is done with them… Are you alright with Grillby having this?” 

“Sure.” Undyne shrugged once more. Clearly, she cared about this as much as Toriel did; despite how Sans strongly suspected Asgore had lectured her for many many hours on the history all of these related to. 

‘Are you quite sure?’ Even Grillby sounded utterly bewildered. 

“Yes! Just have it, I’m fed up of seeing it already.” Toriel began carelessly pulling the parts off the stand. “Sorry, it’s a bit dusty, just hold onto these bits for now. When we’re back at my house, I’ll throw it in a shopping bag for you. You probably won’t use the helmet, but take it anyway, goodness knows I don’t want it.” 

 

Sans gave the trio a ‘ride home’, when they were done for the day. They reappeared in Snowdin’s treeline, a short walk from their house. The magic use from carrying multiple passengers weighed on him terribly. 

Thankfully, Papyrus wasn’t in when they booted open the door. Instantly, when inside, Undyne’s upbeat mood from the last while at Toriel’s, fell away. Quickly ridding of her armour, piling it in a corner, she slumped onto the sofa. 

Sans placed a hot drink down in front of her. “That’s the worst bit done.” Sans reminded her. 

Her eye flashed towards him. All of her vigour abruptly gone. She nodded once before turning away. 

Grillby had collected his drink and scurried upstairs with his odd shopping bags in tow. Sans doubted he’d ever see Grillby this excited about anything ever again. It compared to the time he’d taken his friend to see the stars for the first time on the surface. Sans was still sure this had garnered a bigger reaction from the normally stoic monster. Grillby shut himself inside his (Sans’) room. 

The skeleton himself stumbled upstairs, deciding that the day was officially done. Pulling off the costume he hated so much, they were shoved under Sans’ pillow. He flopped onto his old mattress, which was somehow the most comfortable it had ever been to him, and fell asleep near instantly. He nearly didn’t notice the little spider watching intently from the corner. 

 

A/n:  
Edit: **HEY BOIS WE HAVE A TUMBLR NOW!!** https://madzazzy.tumblr.com/ Alternate chapter title- Where's my super suit?  
An excellent emu video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV8d19DRQXM You're welcome.  
Thank you for all of your support recently. All of you are awesome, thanks for looking at this thing, especially if you've made it this far. :D I've been struggling to keep up with over the last few weeks but we're here! Different tone to this one, hope you enjoyed. Next weeks is gonna be pretty wild and pretty fun.


	34. The Party Zone

The following day, Sans was awoken earlier than he would have usually desired, by Papyrus’s voice. “Come on, sleepy head. Grillby has been kind enough to make breakfast this morning and you absolutely must not miss it!” 

Sans unenthusiastically trudged downstairs, though he perked up instantly when he saw what Grillby had prepared. There was a tray of toast, eggs, fried tomatoes, mushrooms and slices of potatoes, also fried. Sans’ plate was served already slathered in ketchup. It looked heavenly. Everyone seemed pretty impressed. Though Papyrus was not someone who appreciated grease-soaked food, he certainly did not complain.

“Gee, thanks buddy.” Sans smiled, deciding this was the best thing yet since leaving his jail cell. 

The fire monster nodded, ‘A congratulations for your reinstated title, as well as for making it back to us in one piece.’ The thought must have projected straight into Sans’ head, if the tables lack of reaction was to go by. 

Not drawing attention, Sans winked at him in response.

“Hey, Pap.” Undyne called across the table. “How’d you feel if I told you I’ve found a new Sentry for ya?”

The skeleton looked up quickly. “W-well, that would be wonderful!” Papyrus said, not expecting the question. “While we’ve coped, it has been rather difficult recently. Sans has been gone, Lesser may have been permanently injured thanks to that bumped head and Dogamy is still unlikely to return. Ressa and I have been in charge of keeping the whole town safe on our own. Another set of hands would be ever appreciated.” 

Undyne smiled, “You wanna meet 'um?” 

Papyrus perked up, “Right now? Why, most certainly!”

She lifted a hand, pointing across the room. Grillby watched on from where he polished a glass in the kitchen. He gave a tiny wave at Papyrus. 

“Really?” The taller skeleton grinned. “Really really?”

Undyne shrugged. “Figured he needed a job.” 

‘As long as it is no trouble.’ Grillby said. 

“Trouble? Not at all, this is wonderful!” Papyrus jumped from his seat, ran to Grillby and gave him an overexcited handshake. “Welcome to the greatest of teams! We may not be an acknowledged part of the Guard, nor are we paid even minimum wage, nor do we get holiday, but I assure you, you’ve got the best job in the Underground!” 

‘Great.’

 

Unwilling to take even a single day off, despite her friends’ worry, Undyne headed for the door. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna be gone too long today. Thanks for breakfast.” The door slammed with Undyne’s usual force, shaking the entire house. Papyrus took off at her heels, his energy as boundless as usual.

The morning dragged by slowly. Sans crashed out on the sofa, flicking on the television. 

It was turned off again quickly when he realised it was a panel of several news reporters, discussing the Royal Scientist’s untimely death. 

Reaching for a book instead, Sans caught a flicker in the corner of his eye. 

“What’re you doing here?” He asked, catching a spider hiding between the items of the coffee table. Before it could dart away, it was scooped into Sans’ hand. The tiniest squeak sounded as it was lifted delicately by the body. 

The disgruntled spider looked up at its captor with small surprisingly expressive eyes. About the size of his hand, it was fluffy and of a brownish pink colour. On its head, it wore a tiny knitted bobble hat. 

“You know ya don’t have to snoop around here, I doubt any of my friends are the killer you’re after.” Sans smiled. 

The spider shuffled in an awkward fashion on his palm. 

“Unless…” Sans said thoughtfully, “you aren’t here because of that. Are you spying on Undyne or are you just hiding from the cold? I’m afraid I don’t have enough little gloves for all of your feet… Or, are you maybe spying on _me?_ ” Sans suspected all of these possibilities to be true, in some regard. 

The little creature tapped with its feet, eager to be put back down. 

Sans continued, curious, “So, have any of you found anything yet?”

His spider friend bobbed up and down in a nodding motion.

“Yeah? You figured out who our killer is?”

They shook at this. 

At least they seemed to be getting somewhere. “Well I suppose it’s difficult to miss things, when you have so many eyes. Do I get any details?” 

The spider rose their back legs, wiggling them around as it moved its abdomen. Sans wondered what exactly it was up to when it lifted its back legs. Hanging like a bunting secured between its two legs was a string of thread. It had been skilfully crafted into a word. ‘Tomorrow.’ It read in one joined piece of silk. The thread was dropped and more words were formed one by one. ‘Night. Town. Entrance.”

“I’ll be told tomorrow night at the entrance to town?” Sans repeated back. 

They ‘nodded’ once more. 

The skeleton grinned, “Thanks, works for me.” He placed the critter down on the table once again. “You can carry on now, sorry for bugging you.”

Footsteps descending the stairs caught Sans’ attention. Grillby reached his magic out in greeting. 

Sans crossed his legs on the couch, “S’up, hot stuff.”

‘I am going for a walk. Would you like to join me?’ The elemental asked.

Contemplating for a moment, Sans shrugged, “Sure, I could probably use the air.” Afterall, apart from visiting Toriel the previous day, Sans had not left the house since returning from jail. It had been weeks since he had last walked around Snowdin, he wondered whether people would remember him. 

 

An umbrella in hand, the pair set off. Light rain pattered down, the ground now slippery with mud. The snow which gave the town its usual charm was totally gone now. The clouds were a mean grey and the streetlamps struggled to illuminate the town. 

Not many townsfolk enjoyed this seasonal weather. The main street was mostly deserted. Ms Truffle’s daughter moved some potted plants outside to catch the rain and one of the bunny family waved in greeting. 

While the cavern air wasn’t the freshest, it was more pleasant than the stuffy house. The pine trees were at least enjoying the rain. Their green was more vibrant than it had been in a while. A refreshing forest smell filled the air. 

Sans realised quickly the direction they were heading. He glanced up to Grillby, who of course, held no expression. “Hey, you sure you wanna… you know?” He indicated to the building they would soon be approaching. 

‘Yes. I believe it is time.’ Grillby replied. 

They said no more as the pair rounded the corner to the centre of town. The air was tense around them with anticipation. 

A shudder ran down Sans’ spine at the first sights of the wreckage. The mess was much larger than he would have imagined. A charcoal black monolith, jagged and abnormal. It drew hope into it as if it were a black hole sat in the middle of the otherwise pleasant town. Crumbling and soggy. 

Grillby stood as close as he could, his boots inches from the rubble. Sans a few paces behind him. Both still, expecting.

Seeing what remained of Grillby’s, finally solidified the idea that it was gone. Before it had just been a thought, a tale he’d been told. Though Sans had been informed around a week ago, it had been hard to fathom. However, seeing truly was believing. 

The place held so many memories, despite how it was often the same in there, day in, day out. That had really been the appeal of spending the evening in the smoky, low lighting of the place. Between truly awful timelines, Grillby’s had often been the only place Sans had felt safe. It was, without doubt, his second home; all of the regulars were a family, whether they wanted to admit it or not. 

Sans’ hands tugged at the inside of his pockets as memories flashed through his mind… The time many many years prior, when Grillby had first chosen to speak to Sans, though the skeleton had spent many an evening already ranting on about nothing, his friend had listened. He knew there was something special about having the mysterious bartender finally use his own mentally projected voice. A connection had been made, of sorts. 

Group card games. Watching Dogamy outplay everyone, while Doggo got more and more frustrated at his unfair losing streaks. The old dog misreading cards, thanks to his poor eyesight and insisting that those around him must be cheating. 

His reminiscing was cut short by a voice entering his mind.

‘This is the first instance of this occurring, is it not?’ Grillby’s shoulders were slumped, if only by a fraction. 

Sans approached, sheltering under Grillby’s umbrella. “Yeah. Sorry.” 

The other shook his head. ‘Do not apologise for that.’

Feeling guilty, Sans had no business moping about this, when Grillby had lost everything. Nothing could have survived that fire; Sans could hardly imagine the sight of it aflame. 

“Are you okay?”

There was an odd hum in Sans’ mind which was quickly cut off. He reached up and took the umbrella from Grillby’s lightly shaking hand. Anyone would expect his magic field to be buzzing with emotion, however it remained as still as usual. Only microscopic changes could be seen or felt. 

Sans reached up to pat Grillby on the back. A lacklustre offer of comfort, as was commonly the case with Sans. “Dunno how you’re keeping so cool. If I were you, I’d be having a mini eruption right now.” Sans knew rather well what state he’d be in, it remained as something he didn’t particularly like to think about. 

Grillby turned and leaned down. Before Sans could comprehend what was happening, he was pulled into a hug. It was a little shocking at first, but he quickly acclimatised. Holding the umbrella over them with one hand and patting Grillby’s back with the other, Sans’ awkwardness dissolved faster than he expected. With the flames of Grillby’s head wisping up the side of his skull, Sans always imagined this level of closeness with an elemental to be uncomfortable. Surprisingly, it was the opposite, a pleasant, welcome heat. 

‘Sorry, is this too much?’ His voice was relaxed, quite the contrast to how his shoulders shook subtly or how Grillby gripped hard onto Sans’ stupid cow suit. 

As Grillby started to break away, Sans dragged him back down. “No, you’re alright.” 

They stayed that way a little longer than would be deemed polite, not that either minded. 

An approaching commotion brought them out of the moment as Sans turned his head to see Goldwell’s troupe returning from their forest tour. The lizard hurried forwards, head darting about sheepishly. In tow were a small group, including Undyne. She looked disgruntled, dragging along another monster through the mud by their foot. They looked to be passed out. 

“Uh oh.” Sans chuckled. 

Grillby reluctantly released his hold on the skeleton and looked curiously at the gaggle of monsters. 

Undyne handed off the possibly injured one to someone else, who resumed dragging them away. With no parting words from Goldwell, the small crowd dispersed. The reptilian monster and The Captain remained. 

They began exchanging words, Undyne serious and Goldwell visibly nervous. From their distance, Sans couldn’t hear exactly what was being said, though it was clear the lizard was trying desperately to refute whatever Undyne was saying. He was quickly shut down when he began getting argumentative. Whatever had happened in those trees, she wasn’t happy. 

Sans grimaced, though the situation still held humour to him. “Not just you who’s reached closing time.” 

Grillby glanced down to him, unamused.

“Sorry.” Sans quickly spoke. 

A piece of paper was passed between them, produced by Undyne, who scribbled details onto it. Goldwell grudgingly signed it, as it was thrust at his face. With a defeated slump, the lizard turned away. Tearing down his tours sign, which had sat propped up in the muddy ground. 

Sans’ attention turned back to Grillby. His soul twisted in guilt at the way his friend’s shoulders drooped as he watched forlorn over the wreckage of his home. 

“You look like you need a drink.” Undyne said, appearing behind the duo. She leaned down and squashed herself between the two, under the umbrella. 

‘Perhaps.’ Grillby conceded. 

“I’ll see what I can do. Laters.” Undyne patted the elemental roughly on the shoulder. He jolted, not expecting the mildly aggressive contact. Undyne did not notice, in a flash she was gone, faster than she arrived. 

They stayed some time longer, staring out at the charcoal rubble before he nudged him. “Just remember, even if all of this if gone, at least you got out.”

Grillby simply nodded.

“You sure you couldn’t identify who it was?”

There was a pause, reluctance and anticipation mingling between them. ‘I didn’t see them, but I felt their magic.’ He said eventually.

“Oh?” Sans prompted. 

Another silence passed between them. ‘It was yours.’ 

“… A-are you sure?” Sans laughed, not knowing what other reaction to have. It surely couldn’t be.

‘Unmistakably.’ There was a sad tone to his words.

“Um… beats me, Grillbz.” Sans shrugged, suddenly worried. He’d been in jail, of course, so they wouldn’t suspect him, even if his magic was in the crime scene. Only he knew that his shortcuts were working while inside; it was totally possible he could have had one of the blackouts, travelled here and torn Grillby’s establishment apart. With his blasters, it would have been no problem. The question of why, remained.

‘Do not worry, I doubt your magic could do such damage.’ Grillby replied, as if reading Sans’ mind. ‘I believe Papyrus is looking for a monster with mimicking abilities to question.’ 

“Heh, yeah. Sure is weird.” The less his friends knew about him, the better; he thought bitterly. Sans was willing to hide whatever he could from them if it meant not being locked back in that place. “… You wanna keep walking?” 

With a last look at the old building, they walked on. 

 

Later in the afternoon had Sans back on the sofa, half asleep, his legs over the back rest. Papyrus and Grillby chatted about the case. They stood before the wall which had been dedicated to logging every bit of evidence. Grillby pointed to post it notes with interest and Papyrus commented along with him. 

The door opened with a slam, jolting all three resident monsters. Undyne wobbled through the door, carrying… something incredibly large. Huge, box shaped and nearly as tall as Sans, it was pulled through the doorway. Papyrus audibly winced as wood around the doorframe buckled and splintered as the mysterious thing was pulled through.

It was slammed in the middle of the room, beside the coffee table. Undyne stood back, dusting off her hands, looking proud of herself. “Oof, that was heavy.” She commented, flopping onto the sofa beside Sans. 

Sans’ eyes lit up. Before him sat a giant, industry sized package, stacked fully with beer cans. “Awesome.” He gave her an upside-down high five from his position on the sofa. 

“What… _What is that doing in my house?!_ ” Papyrus barked, gesturing to it wildly. Clearly, he did not appreciate the gesture as much as the others. Afterall, the thing was taking up most of the room.

Undyne shrugged, “Jus’ thought we all deserved to unwind for an evening.” She tore at the plastic wrapping and removed several cans, passing them around. “You can drink that, right, Grillby?” 

The fire monster scanned the writing on the back of the can before nodding happily. 

Papyrus looked around the group, like he was the only one with a functioning brain. “Are you- are you starting that now?” He asked in dismay. A look of horror on his face. 

“Yeah.” Undyne stated. “You want one?”

“No, I most certainly do not!” Papyrus recoiled in disgust. 

Sans sat up straight, something worthy of his interest now presented before him. The beer wasn’t bad, he’d certainly tried worse. “Nice one, Undyne. I’m happy to put all of my plans on alco _hold_ for this.” 

Whatever had been happening around them was set aside as everyone (except Papyrus) agreed that this was a well deserved break. 

 

Papyrus sat with a puzzle book, cross-legged on the floor as the lights outside dimmed slowly into evening. The three others sat around chatting, telling stories and jokes. It was a pleasant atmosphere, despite Papyrus’s distaste at what they were drinking and the amount of which. To his surprise, Undyne and Sans were getting along rather well, with only the occasional critical jab, which was laughed off by the other. 

Though he kept himself busy, Papyrus didn’t miss out on their conversation; he wasn’t going to be rude, of course. The skeleton’s interest rose when discussion switched to Sans’ old work as a scientist. 

“So, you’ve got this secret lab, right?” Undyne casually asked. “You working on anything cool? Anything thing that’s gonna break the barrier for us?”

Sans laughed, “You give me too much credit. Haven’t done anything down there in ages.” 

‘I didn’t even know you had a ‘secret lab’.’ Grillby commented. 

Undyne finished her drink before quickly reaching for another. “Oh, come on. There must’ve been something you were working on.” She urged.

“Yeah, a few things…” Sans trailed off. After a moment he seemed struck with a thought. “There is something you might like. Lemme go find it.” He hopped up from his seat and hurried to the door. 

The remaining monsters looked between each other. Papyrus frowned at the can in Undyne’s hand, “Those haven’t been in the fridge, do they still taste good?”

She glanced down at her drink, as if the writing on it would tell her what to say. “Uh, yeah. I kinda prefer it to be-.”

“I’m back!”  
Sans, after only leaving for a few seconds, returned with a large contraption in hand.

“I thought you kept the basement locked?” Papyrus asked in mild confusion.

“Probably.” Sans replied dismissively, throwing the large metal thing onto the crate of beer cans. “This is something I threw together years ago, when my hotdog business really took off.”

“You mean the illegal one you never bother with?” Undyne chipped in.

“I didn’t think it’d been years?” Papyrus added.

Sans waved them off. “I dunno, I’ve lost track of how long it’s been. As I was saying, THIS is my hotdog home delivery service. I call it the TSC, or, The Sausage Canon.” With some difficulty, he tugged back a slide along the body of the ‘canon’ until it clicked. A trigger was pulled and a loud pop sounded. Even unloaded, it caused Sans to stumble. 

“Sweeet!” Undyne leaned forwards in immediate interest. 

Papyrus eyed it suspiciously, he was unsure what to make of this contraption. While certainly impressive, Papyrus worried about its destructive capabilities.  
Sans lowered it back down, “Yeah, made it a little too heavy and just lost interest.” 

“You got any sausages?” Undyne asked, a large grin on her face. 

Sans returned from the kitchen with a jar of water sausages, pickled in some flavoured preserving liquid. He tossed the jar to Undyne, who caught it without even looking. 

Grillby and Papyrus both exchanged worried looks as Sans demonstrated how to properly load and fire the canon. About to change the subject of conversation, the taller skeleton shrieked as a water sausage exploded against the wall above his head. 

“Woah!” Undyne grinned with mad satisfaction. 

“Home delivery, straight to your door! Or through your door, it’s a little forceful, I think.” Sans smiled.

“A LITTLE?!” Papyrus jumped to his feet, gesturing wildly to the wall, just above his head, which now had a large dent in the plaster and was covered in the soggy remains of the sausage. “Outside, if you want to do that!” He pointed at the door like an angry parent. They had no idea, did they; how much time he spent cleaning every week? 

“Cool.” Sans simply said, heading for the door. 

Undyne followed, carrying the heavy machinery with ease. “Yeah, let’s go see how far it shoots!” 

They left, Sans explaining happily about the ideal angle to get the best height and distance for the perfect shot. Undyne quickly doubling back to collect an armful of drinks. Papyrus exchanged another look with Grillby, this time one of fear. Coming to the same conclusion, they both hurried after the canon wielders. They were not to be trusted.

“Don’t hit anyone!” Papyrus worriedly called after Sans and Undyne, who were quickly using up their ammo. 

“Don’t worry!” Undyne called before firing another sausage, this one firing over halfway down Snowdin’s main street. Her and Sans whooped in excitement.  
“Ay! Who was that?!” 

Dogaressa stepped out of the trees nearby, she stopped, taking in what she was seeing, bewilderment on her face. Papyrus waved her over to apologise. 

Her path diverted to Sans first, picking him up from behind for a hug, his legs flailing in momentary terror as he was spun around before being placed gently back down. She poked at his face, pointing out where the bruises still lingered around his eye. Wagging her tail happily, the dog next ran to Grillby, who lingered beside Papyrus, safely away from the other’s fun. The elemental didn’t seem as reluctant to return the embrace as Papyrus might have thought. Dogaressa shared her worries and well-wishes as she fussed over him, always so motherly by nature. 

“You wanna join the party?” Undyne called over to her. “We got plenty to spare.” 

A drink was flung Dogaressa’s way, which she only just caught. “Later, if I can. I’ll drag Dogamy along, he’s been stuck with Lesser all day, sure he could use a break.” She said, passing the drink to Papyrus who passed it to Grillby. 

 

Not long after, they were passing by the newer building of the town. Sans had twice walked away momentarily and returned with one arm filled with new water sausages and the other carrying as many fresh cans as he could hold (which was, admittedly, not many). 

Two monsters caught Papyrus’s eye. The three headed plant, Shrubberthree sat on Goldwell’s doorstep. They had a leaf wrapped around his shoulder in comfort. The lizard had his head in his hands, his eight eyes glazed with sadness.

“Wassup, guys?” Sans called over to them. 

Shrubberthree, especially, perked up upon seeing him. They got up to eagerly waddle over, doing what looked like a little dance, hopping from one weedy foot to the other as they greeted Sans. 

From his seat, Goldwell was regarding the group with an odd expression, cold and a little unfriendly. 

“Hey.” Undyne waved to the sandy lizard, his pink eyes meeting her. “Sorry ‘bout earlier. Just my job.” 

In response he mumbled something under his breath.

The Captain continued, “Listen. You’re a smart guy, you’ll do fine. Come cheer yourself up, have a drink and a go with the sausage cannon.”

Taking a moment to decide, Goldwell shuffled from the doorstep. His frown slipped away and his shoulders relaxed. By the time he received the drink Undyne held out for him, he was wearing a smile. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.” He accepted.

It then clicked in Papyrus’s mind what had happened. Undyne had finally shut Goldwell’s tour business down! Thank goodness, it was well overdue. Despite how the monster in question was clearly hurt, Papyrus could only care so much when he knew all of the issues it had caused the forest dwellers and how many injured or dead customers there had been. 

Regardless, it appeared their traveling party was growing in number, as the two monsters decided to tag along. 

 

The group stayed outside for some time, wondering about, everyone having a turn with the sausage gun, which had only smashed through one window and shattered one flower pot. The rain had long since stopped, though the ground was still sticky with mud, the kind which made a morning jog extra challenging. 

They picked up more townsfolk along the way. Pink bird, who was equally as happy as Dogaressa to see Grillby and Sans once again. There was also Cloudnine, who was in a much more upbeat mood than Papyrus had seen in a while. 

Floating at the back of the group with Papyrus and Grillby, the little faces on Cloud’s body were bright with smiles. 

“I see you are feeling better?” Papyrus asked the tiny monster.

Cloud swam through the air to sit eye level with the skeleton. “Yes, thank you.” They hummed, “Everything is fitting back together now. The house is still lonely, with just me in it. That’s okay though, it’s nice to see friends.” 

 

Shrubberthree knocked on one of the doors the group passed. Papyrus cringed as Beansprout answered. His antennae drooped and large round eyes a dull orange. He was invited to join the party, but began edging the door closed before the plant monster could finish. The bug politely declined, softly shutting the door. 

Papyrus had to admit to himself he was relieved the monster had not joined them. He still felt an overwhelming guilt for Honey’s death, even with everyone’s encouragement, it still felt like his fault. Beansprout’s words of blame still stung, an uncomfortable weight which piled upon many other issues Papyrus tried to keep ordered in his mind. 

Though he didn’t partake in the silliness, it was wonderful to see everyone in high spirits. Sans especially was laughing joyfully, having real fun, rather than pretending as he usually did. Papyrus found himself staring, he wondered whether Sans would be this happy right now without the addition of alcohol. Either way, it was nice to see. Both heart-warming and saddening, in a way. 

Undyne, too, was having a blast. She too, had not been this happy in a while. 

The world darkened around them slowly until Grillby’s flames became the brightest thing outside. It was decided the party would continue back at the skeleton’s house. The Dogi couple caught up as they made their way back, Lesser Dog in tow. 

“Sorry, he’s not really safe left on his own anymore.” Dogaressa apologised, leading the slightly crooked dog by the hand. 

“Nonsense, the more the merrier!” Papyrus cheered, opening the door. His sour attitude towards the evening had changed a little, everyone’s joy rubbing off on him. Now he wondered whether they would be able to house so many people. 

With a bit of moving around, the crate of beer was shoved into the corner. Pillows and blankets were thrown downstairs and the sausage canon was confiscated. Shrubberthree and Cloudnine received bowls to pour their drinks into, Dogamy got a straw to help with his missing jaw problem and Papyrus made himself and Lesser a soft drink each. 

Eventually everyone got settled down. All eleven crammed into the room but comfortable none the less. Papyrus decided it was his job to supervise the evening, making sure nothing got too out of hand. 

At this point, most of them were on at least their third drink. Those just receiving theirs were catching up fast and Papyrus had lost count of Undyne and Sans, who were intent on getting wasted as quickly as possible, apparently. 

Conversation started out pleasant, Pink Bird recounting a story of an old ex she’d met in the Capital. The chatter continued from there, their company bouncing stories off one another. Goldwell talked about strange shapes in the shadows of the forest, slices into the darkness which wavered and glitched like the static of a television. Shrubberthree mentioned a large spider which had ended up on one of their heads, a few of their group looked almost nervous at that; Papyrus figured they had an aversion to eight-legged creatures. 

Someone prompted Sans to talk about his jail time, after drawing everyone’s attention to his bruised eye. He joked in response, shrinking down slightly, as if trying to hide his black eye. After deflecting questions for long enough, the others got the message that he didn’t want to discuss it. 

As they all moved on, Sans lightened up once more. 

Grillby sat on a pillow beside Papyrus, not contributing to any of the discussions. He was still on his first drink. Papyrus could imagine him being the most sensible one, after watching his regulars making fools of themselves on a nightly basis. 

Before long, everyone was laughing, having a great time. Cloudnine’s little eyes kept returning worriedly to a spot in the corner of the room, on the ceiling. A small mass of spider webbing sat above, though without a spider in it. The skeleton inwardly sighed, he had only done the dusting recently. Spiders were not fond of the cold, so he didn’t have to deal with their mess often, though in the last week, many of their silky trails had shown up in unexpected places. 

He leaned over to the fluffy looking monster, “Would you like me to get rid of it?” Papyrus nodded to the bothersome web. 

Cloud laughed nervously, “No, no. I just don’t like spiders. Thank you though, sorry.” 

“Not to worry, I don’t like the mess they leave.” Papyrus replied. 

A clap got everyone’s attention, Undyne, who had taken one side of the sofa, looked prepared to give a speech. All fell silent for her.  
“Right. Thank you all for coming to this… whatever this is. We’re getting shit-faced tonight and it’s gonna be great!” There were some cheers from the crowd. “And I think we can start with my favourite game for occasions like this, a little thing called ‘Truth or Dare’.” Her grin widened into something acutely evil.  
There came more cheers and ‘Ooh’s of anticipation. 

Papyrus instantly knew he made the right decision staying in a supervisory role…


	35. Truth or dare?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not checked out that Tumblr thing? https://madzazzy.tumblr.com/ <\- There it is!! I haven't posted for a week but eeh… It exists!   
> I really hope this one is good. Thank you for your suggestions, I tried to get through as many as I could. Also, this is the strangest chapter I've ever written... I really hope it's funny, but who knows. XD … So... I don't drink and nobody invites me to parties because I'm no fun. I think that probably shows in this chapter. This makes up for the socially inept part of me. lol

“The rules are as follows.” Undyne called, silencing anymore chatter which threatened to take the focus from her. “You have to be honest, no cheating; trust me, we’ll know.” She gave a sly, knowing look to Sans. “If you ask for a truth one turn, you have to take dare the following time, and vice versa. You can deny a question, but if you do that, ya gotta finish your drink. Remember, we’ll know whether you’re lying.” Another hard look was sent to Sans. 

The skeleton blinked, suddenly realising why Undyne was looking at him. He laughed uneasily in response. “Really, Undyne?” Was the Guard’s first use for their new soul seer going to be a game of truth or dare? 

“Really.” She grinned. 

Papyrus held up his hand across the room, he cleared his non-existent throat. “I shall be your referee. No funny business, especially not in my house!” 

A few monsters booed at that, but Papyrus ignored them. 

“Fine.” Undyne shrugged, “Who wants to go first?” 

“I’ll do it.” Dogamy slurred, thanks to his partly missing face. “Hey, Pink. Truth or dare?”

The bird’s feathers fluffed up as she smiled across to her cloaked friend. “I’ll start nice and easy, m’dear. Truth.”

The long hood loosely covering the dog’s face shifted with his movements. “Tell us about your most awkward date.”

“Hmm… There were quite the number, way back when.” She began, tapping her beer can with a feathered finger. “I remember one though; timid fella, had about seventeen eyes and just as many pairs of glasses to cover them all. Anyway, we’re at this rather nice restaurant, and I already know I won’t be calling him back- poor thing can’t keep up with the conversation, just agrees with everything I say. We’re eating and I ask him what his preferred number of kids would be. In response, he inhales his food and begins choking. Poor thing has gone blue by the time he starts breathing again. We call it a night after that… Then we bumped into his wife on the way out.” She finished with a swig of beer. 

Her story left half of the group laughing and the others silent with concern. “Who the hell asks about kids on the first date?!” Dogaressa piped up.

Pink Bird shrugged, “It’s a great way to judge someone, by how they react.”

Dogamy snorted with laughter, “Explains why you’re still single.” 

Winking back at him, she replied, “Single and always ready to mingle, love. Now, I believe it’s my turn. Goldwell, you next.”

The lizard gave a strange hiss, his tail twitching for a moment before he answered. “Truth.”

Pink Bird thought for a moment, “How many people have died on your forest tours?” 

Everyone’s attention was gained, all looking curiously at the reptilian monster in question. 

He shook his head. “Can’t say.” 

“Ah, c’mon, you’ve got to.” Cloudnine chirped with interest. 

Goldwell rummaged around his coat pocket, eventually producing a paper, which unfolded into a legal document. “No, my lawyer says I don’t have to discuss anything about my business if it shows it in a negative light.” He said, matter of fact.

Pink bird rolled her eyes, “Your business has been shut down!” She countered.

“Still counts.” Goldwell rasped quickly, tapping at the fine print. At the sighs of annoyance around the group, he rose his head triumphantly. “My turn. Papyrus, I assume you are playing?” 

“Of course! I am quite the daring individual, so I’ll have one of those, please.” The skeleton excitedly replied, ready for a challenge. 

The lizard narrowed his eyes, possibly hoping that Papyrus would have chosen otherwise. “Very well…” I took a while for Goldwell to come up with a dare. “Juggle these for us.” Three cans were picked off the top of the still massive pile. 

It was immediately clear that Papyrus had never juggled before. It took several attempts, each with Grillby having to duck out of the way, to not be hit over the head. “Hey! There, I got it!” The skeleton yelled, as he was able to maintain a wobbly but somewhat consistent pace. This was disrupted however, when Undyne threw in a fourth can. Papyrus hadn’t seen it coming, though he had noticed when it hit him square in the chest. “Undyne!” He shouted as the others scattered in different directions. 

“Fine! Undyne, I’m choosing you next.” Papyrus glared playfully over. 

Her laughing stopped abruptly, a glint in her eye. “Dare. What else?”

She was serious enough that Sans would half expect her to kill someone, if she was jokingly dared to do so. 

Instantly, Papyrus leapt to his feet and sprinted around the corner into the kitchen. He returned with a nearly full bottle of spicy sauce. It was thrown to Undyne. “Drink it.” Papyrus instructed with a sly smirk. 

Undyne’s smile only widened. Holding her friend’s gaze, she uncorked the bottle and downed it without hesitation. The others of the group aired their opinions of the act with gross sounds. The warrior’s face remained straight for most of the bottle, before her eye started to water. 

The group cheered as the bottle was finished. A very red faced Undyne yelled in triumph, throwing the bottle against the far wall, where it shattered. She grabbed her beer and emptied that instead. 

“Wouldn’t water be better?” Papyrus asked, looking impressed. 

Shaking her head, Undyne pointed at Cloudnine.

“Ooh!” The little creature chirped, “Truth please, this is all very exciting!” 

“What’s up with all the little faces?” Undyne asked, her voice hoarse. 

Papyrus plopped back into his seat, “Undyne, that is rude!” 

“It’s okay!” Cloudnine reassured. They rose out of the bowl, contracting their body in a way which squeezed the moisture out of their fluffy form, like a sponge. “I can do this…” The white cloud fluffed up, everyone watching with interest. Someone squeaked in surprise when part of Cloud separated from their main body with a ‘Poof!’, followed by many more. It continued until Cloud had separated their mass into lots of smaller clouds, each small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. The little pieces were headed with one of the tiny smiling faces, which were once scattered upon Cloud’s body. They swam about the air together, like a school of fish.   
Sans noticed the tiny soul still within one of the pieces of Cloud. It gave a soft glow only he could see. Something still felt strange about it, even as it quickly zipped through the air, barely able to properly glimpse. The feeling was unnerving; Sans pushed it down, going back to his drink.

Cloud reformed back to their original shape, dropping to soak in their drink once more. 

“That’s cool.” Undyne commented, grabbing another can from the pile. 

“Shrub.” Cloud called next. 

“Hmm, dare.” The plant monster said, removing one of their roots from their own bowl. 

“Make everyone smile, I know you’re good at that.” Cloud giggled. 

They looked about with their three heads. “Do you have any house plants?” 

A very sad looking succulent was retrieved from the kitchen. Sans had forgotten they even had any plants around the house. Shrubberthree looked disappointed at the ropey little thing. They wrapped their leaves around the little plant, a shimmer of magic shone from within the embrace. Shrubberthree unfolded their leaves revealing a larger, much healthier plant. Its layered leaves were a thick rich colour, stems branched from between the leaves, forming flowers of different bright colours. 

The monster moved their leaves around the growing stems and flowers, changing them to different shapes and sizes, as if moulding clay. A bright yellow flower was picked off and handed to Goldwell, who sat at Shrub’s side. Another pink one was handed to Dogaressa, and blue one for Lesser, who promptly ate his. 

The process was continued until everyone around the circle had a flower. “Thank you very much to our hosts, for a delightful evening.” The monster hummed as they weaved flowers, “Papyrus, what is your favourite colour?” 

“Oh, oh! Orange!” He enthusiastically answered.

A large orange lily was created from the stem, and handed to Papyrus. A complex, leafy green flower crown was sent Undyne’s way and a scattering of blue petals were thrown into the air like confetti for Sans. 

The once sad plant, now twice the size of its pot was moved to the side. “He’ll need watering later.” Shrub said. 

The monster had certainly accomplished their dare, everyone was indeed smiling after their impressive and wholesome display.

“That’s kick-ass!” Undyne called, looking very happy with her leafy flower crown. She was still visibly recovering from her hot sauce overindulgence. “Next time I need some flowers done, I’ll know who to call.”

Shrubberthree shook their heads, “I suggest not, I’m terrible at arranging; no sense of colour or style.” They poked one of their leaves in Dogamy’s direction. 

“Truth.” He said, without prompting. Sans wasn’t surprised by his choice, by how tired he looked. 

“What would you do…” Shrubberthree began, “If you were a girl for the day?” 

“I’d fuck Sans.” The dog replied, without a second’s hesitation. 

Papyrus tutted at the Sentries use of language, while Dogaressa fist bumped her husband. 

Sans winked back at him, “You know ya don’t need to be a girl for that, right?” 

Dogamy laughed, “I’ll bare that in mind.” From under his hood, his eyes sharply scanned the room until they stopped on one particular monster. Grillby. The dog pointed between Sans and the elemental. “What exactly is the deal with you two? We’ve been trying to figure it out for months.”

Again, all attention turned to the exchange, in anticipation of Grillby’s response. It was no surprise that this was still a talking point, this kind of people drama didn’t occur in Snowdin often. Undyne especially narrowed her eye with interest. 

Caught in the spotlight, Grillby tensed. ‘You forgot to ask my choice.’

“Someone was bound to ask at some point this evening.” Dogaressa smiled.

Sans felt guilty for putting his friend through this kind of questioning. He was glad their friendship had so far stood through this test, things could have easily gone the opposite way, if Grillby had gotten tired of the (now mostly redundant) act. Out of interest, Sans sought out Grillby’s soul, as difficult as it always was to see, and focused on it.

‘If you insist.’ Grillby conceded. He seemed to take a long breath, keeping Dogamy’s gaze. ‘We have been… together, for a while now. I do care very deeply for Sans.’   
Of course, his first statement was shady, though it mingled with something which wanted to be a truth. Sans was totally bewildered, finding Grillby’s second statement to be completely true. That was just an admission of care though, right? It was still platonic, right? 

But Sans could tell, even with his thick skull and mild alcohol induced dizziness, that it was more than that. 

The skeleton was knocked out of his spiralling thoughts by Dogaressa bumping his shoulder. The others were busy making their own sappy comments. Sans quickly downed the remainder of his drink, eagerly replacing it with a fresh one. Nope. Not tonight. That was a problem for future him. 

“So, what changed, how exactly did you two… ya know?” Dogamy asked.

Grillby bluntly shut him down. ‘I believe it is one question only. Who would like to go next?’

“Ooh, me!” Undyne called.

Seeing no one else desperate to go instead, Grillby nodded. He briefly paused, thinking of a question. ‘What are you most self-conscious about?’

She shook her head in response, choosing instead to finish her drink, which was thrown onto the floor with the gathering pile of empty cans. It was clear Undyne hadn’t intended on answering anything when she menacingly pointed down to where Sans sat, at the foot of the sofa. “You’ve been awfully quiet. Truth or dare?”  
Was that even a question? “Dare.”

“Bet you can’t do a handstand.” Undyne challenged. 

With a slight wobble, Sans stood. He caught a glimpse of Papyrus shifting with worry. “M’kay.” He said lazily. With shockingly precise movements, Sans preformed a perfectly smooth handstand. 

There were some surprised noises from the others. 

“Not as brittle as I look.” Sans called back to them. Holding the position, he caught Undyne’s eye. “Dare you to break eggs on your face.”

Not hesitating, she raced to the kitchen and returned with a whole box of eggs, slamming them over her head. A competitive spark shone from her. “Dare you to eat a handful of dirt.” 

“Lift everyone in the room, with one hand.”

“Choose someone in here to slap you in the face.”

“Put ice cubes down your pants.”

“Drink a cup full of watered-down kitchen cleaner.”

The rest of the room watched with wild humour as Undyne and Sans went back and forth with their dares. Each completing their task with expert precision, which was impressive, considering both had been drinking heavily since early afternoon. Sans was the first to fail, as he attempted to hold another handstand with one hand while finishing a drink with another. Losing his balance, he fell unceremoniously on top of Lesser Dog, who excitedly began licking Sans’ face. 

Undyne screeched a laugh, “Knew you’d be the first to go!” She taunted. 

Not done and eager to raise the stakes of the challenge, Sans grinned back. “Yeah, but you still lost your fight with me.” 

Abruptly, her laughter stopped. “That was just a fluke.” 

“Wait, when did this happen?” Papyrus questioned quietly from elsewhere in the room.

Ignoring his brother, Sans hummed, fixing her with a sly look. “Must’a been pretty embarrassing, couldn’t even hit me. I know I found it pretty _humorous._ ”

“THAT’S IT!” Light filled the room and the smaller monsters sat around Undyne’s feet scurried to the corners away, as she manifested a spear into her hand. The Captain pulled Sans out of Lesser’s grip and nearly threw him towards the door. “Rematch! I dare you!” She was grinning like a madman, magic pulsing like electric in the air. There was no malicious intent, this was all for fun. 

“Wait. No. What are you doing?” Papyrus was rising slowly from his seat, looking increasingly more concerned.

“Ready when you are.” Sans jeered playfully as he backed up towards the door, ready for her to attack. Not taking his eye off her, he opened the door, put one foot down the door step and threw a bone attack, which sped towards Undyne like a bullet. 

She dodged, the magic construct slamming into the kitchen wall, leaving yet another dent. A few of their guests yelped in apparent fright. Sans bolted out of the way as Undyne swung for him. 

Running outside, Undyne charged towards Sans, who kept pace by shortcutting away from her. A stream of bone attacks spiralled her way, sliced by her magic spear or sinking into the mud.   
Aside from a few streetlamps, it was nearly too dark to see outside. The shining of their magic attacks lit the quiet night in bright neon. 

Undyne advanced, slicing the air several times as Sans narrowly dodged. He summoned a row of bones from the floor. Several hit her in the back, blunt, with no intention of causing actual injury. They however knocked her off balance. 

Stumbling, Undyne grasped Sans’ soul with her magic. She released a burst of small bullets surrounding in the air. They zipped through the night, aimed straight for Sans’ soul like it was a magnet. 

“Oh my-! STOP THIS AT ONCE!” Papyrus shrieked. Joining him outside were most of the group, including Grillby, who at least provided a little more light. The dogs sounded like they were making bets on who would be the victor. 

Again, Papyrus was ignored. Sans focused on dodging the bullets heading his way. In the dark, it was easier to move without being seen. He jumped between the shadows, not letting the onlookers in on his extra abilities. Unable to stop the onslaught, Sans teleported behind Undyne. Jumping, he grabbed her around the neck, clinging onto her back. She thrashed, unable to throw him off. A second before the attack struck, Sans jumped and rolled out of harms way. 

The magnetic pull on his soul was dropped as Undyne’s attack rained down on her, as it missed it’s intended target. 

Sans paused, wondering whether she’d been injured or not. His question was answered not a second later when Undyne ran at him, the same mad grin on her face. Sans threw an attack at her. It was predicted, Undyne sliding underneath. She skidded across the mud, slamming into Sans, taking his legs from under him. 

Met with a face full of mud, a knee was pressed into Sans’ back. He glanced up to see Undyne’s amused expression. “Told ya you were-.” Her words were cut off as Sans grasped her soul with his own magic and flung her across the clearing.

Unable to land on the slippery ground, Undyne also, splattered into the mud. 

Quickly, Sans picked himself off the ground, wiping a large blob of dirt from around his eye socket. Feeling an odd displacement of energy, he jumped out of the way just in time for another of Undyne’s attacks to come bursting out of the ground. 

‘Sans, please stop, you’re scaring us.’ Grillby said into the skeleton’s mind, a pleading edge to his voice. Both Papyrus and Grillby looked quite frightened. Everyone else just looked entertained. 

Papyrus continued to shout warnings at the pair, his voice shifting into previously unheard pitches as he screamed. “I SWAER I’M SENDING YOU BOTH STRAIGHT TO BED AFTER THIS! DON’T YOU DARE SAY I CAN’T!”

This was all too much fun though. Finally given an outlet for a good friendly fight, Sans felt like he was releasing all his frustrations of the past few weeks. It was almost relaxing, in the most bazaar way possible. His opponent was clearly experiencing the same thing. Sans readied his magic for another round. 

 

Another strike of light arced through the air. Papyrus held his breath as Sans was nearly hit once again. Beside him, Grillby looked the most panic stricken Papyrus ever seen. 

Before them, Sans flinched as he was targeted again by Undyne’s green magic. A barrage charged towards him. Papyrus yelped in horror as his brother’s footing slipped from beneath him, leaving him vulnerable. 

Orange light blazed to life and a tower of flame lit between Sans and the oncoming attack. The approaching energy sizzling out. 

Undyne was sprinting once more, trying to close the distance between them. Papyrus jumped into action, he ran forwards, intercepting her. Met with someone unexpected, Undyne skidded to a halt. Any magic Sans had been preparing also vanished from the air. 

“YOU BOTH STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” Papyrus shouted, more than a little upset. Grillby hurried to his side, checking over Undyne for injuries. 

“Aww, c’mon, Pap! We were just messin’ around.” Undyne tried.

“And that messing around could have ended very badly!” Papyrus argued back. He stepped towards Sans, snatching him from where he stood. Recoiling at the mud covering him, Papyrus instead hooked his brother under his arm, letting him hang around the waist. 

Sans squirmed about, objecting to his handling, “Hey! Chill out, bro. No one’s actually gonna get hurt, it’s not like either of us have a bone to pick.” 

Already making his way back to the house, Papyrus snapped his eyes back to his brother, an incredulous look on his face. “How can you be so careless, Sans? One would think someone as vulnerable as yourself would be more wary of picking fights, especially with someone such as Undyne!”

“I’ve got _some_ backbone. I’m not gonna dust over nothing.” Sans grumbled back, annoyed that his fun was being spoiled.

Unexpectedly, Undyne spoke up, “Yeah, I’ve said before- Sans can be pretty badass.” 

_“And that excuses nothing!”_ Everyone filed into the house. They came back to find Goldwell held in place by Lesser Dog, who’s neck coiled around the lizard like a snake.

Sans was placed back down, in the light, he was covered head to foot in wet mud, Undyne also. The Captain hadn’t sustained any damage, thankfully. 

“I do not want mud all over my house. Take a shower and change your clothes.” Papyrus ordered sternly. 

Undyne huffed, “But it’s a party.”

“And it shall remain as a clean one!”

The two troublesome monsters relented, making their way upstairs. Catching each other’s eye, they laughed, high-fiving the other. “I totally won that.” Sans commented, as they disappeared upstairs. 

Everyone grabbed fresh drinks and settled back down, chatting idly together about the momentary excitement. Papyrus was a little angry about their lack of responsibility, anyone would think they were children. 

Grillby was quiet. He stared down at his drink, looking surprisingly shaken. 

From upstairs came the sound of crashing, Undyne’s boisterous laugh and a splash which could easily mean a flooding bathroom. 

Dogamy stood sluggishly, his every movement telling of an extreme tiredness or discomfort. He called to Lesser, who released a very disgruntled Goldwell and followed. “Thanks guys, it’s been nice seeing you all. My bed is calling me, so I’m gonna head off.” The dog said. 

Pink Bird rose from her seat, “I’ll walk you both back. Great party, y’all should do more.” She hugged the various monsters around the room before heading for the door.

The small group were wished a safe journey home, Papyrus filled two shopping bag with extra beer cans and insisted Dogamy and Pink take them.

Papyrus turned as he closed the door, water dripping onto his hear through the ceiling. Yep. They were having a water fight. 

‘How has he been?’ Grillby asked Dogaressa, who opted to stay. 

She met him with sad look, “He’d been having trouble adjusting. Keeps talking about starting work again, but I think we both know that can’t happen. It’s not just his face which is causing him trouble. The old pup can’t even sleep.” 

“I’m sorry.” Squeaked an unexpected monster. Their heads turned to see Cloudnine, looking regretful. “I wish he hadn’t hurt you all.” 

“Egg, right?” Dogaressa asked, in a loving sort of sadness. “You don’t need to apologise, sweetie, what he did isn’t your fault.”

“But I…” The tiny cotton wool looking monster trailed off but nodded, understanding the dog’s words to be true.

Shrubberthree nodded, “I’ll talk to him. I might have something that could help.” 

“Thanks.” Dogaressa smiled appreciatively at the plant monster.

Papyrus clasped his hands together. “I think we need to encourage him more. He’ll feel much better soon, if we all help, I’m sure of it!” 

Goldwell muttered something unpleasant under his breath. No one heard except Shrub, who flicked a leaf against his arm. “Algringtonsly, that is not nice!” She scolded, also quietly.

Dogaressa gave the skeleton a heart-warming smile, tinged with sorrow. “Oh, Papyrus. Don’t ever change.”

A bout of laughter came from upstairs, followed by a door slamming. Both Undyne and Sans descended the staircase, each grinning to the other, engaged in banter. Having burnt off some energy, they both looked content and a little sleepy; Sans especially. 

Undyne reclaimed her seat on the sofa, this time heaving Sans up beside her, where they both retrieved more drinks. Papyrus couldn’t recall a time where the two had gotten along so well. It was wonderful to see!... Even though their little bout could have gone very badly for his brother. Since Undyne had accepted that Sans had nothing to do with the murders, she had begun to warm up to him, even more so when presented with the idea that the skeleton was being framed for the crime.

“Are those my pyjamas?” Papyrus asked.

“Uhh, yeah.” Sans simply answered. Where the clothes hung loosely off of him, they struggled to fit Undyne. “They were the first ones we found. 

The taller skeleton shrugged, not really minding. It was getting very late, he wondered how long this party intended on proceeding for. By this point, everyone was looking a little intoxicated.

“Right!” Undyne loudly silenced all other conversation. “We’re back now. Time for part two! Papyrus, you can start.”

“More of this? I thought we’d finished this game.” Papyrus frowned.

“No way! Everyone knows truth or dare gets better the crazier people get.” Undyne insisted. Most of the room seemed to agree with her. She nor Sans appeared to notice that they were now missing three people.

Papyrus sipped at his own drink, “Well I’m not playing, thank you, not after your earlier display.”

“Fine.” Undyne shrugged. “Ressa, you didn’t have a go last time. You choose who goes first.”

The dog laughed, “Really? I hadn’t even noticed… Grillby, truth or dare?”

‘I believe the rules state I must pick dare.’ He informed. 

“Uhh, yeah!” She barked, “Why not sing us a song?” 

The rest of the group ‘ooh’ed at this, ready for another round of the ridiculous game.

Grillby stilled once more, as he seemed to when presented with anything unexpected, this evening. After a moments debate, he shook his head and finished his drink.   
Undyne yelled a cheer, “First one to chicken out!”

“You realise what I sound like?” Grillby spoke, the words almost indistinguishable in the strange gurgling of his real voice. Cloudnine recoiled, startled by the otherworldly noise. Grillby’s eyes met the plant monster whose roots were nearly done absorbing their second drink. ‘Shrubberthree. If you had to, what would be the best method of impersonating another monster’s magic?’

Papyrus, who had been reading the back of his soda can, refocused his attention. Was Grillby using the opportunity of this dumb game to question the others about their case? What genius! 

“Oh… that’s an interesting one!” Shrub remarked. “Well… Personally, I could try to create a flower which resembled their magic essence, though I’ve never tried that, I don’t think it would be very accurate… I suppose a doppelganger or a mimic could do something like that. But if it had to be their magic exactly… Hmm. I’d find a way of storing their magic with an item, then release it later and pretend it was mine. You couldn’t do that without their knowledge though. They’d need to use their magic, for me to store it.” 

‘Interesting. Thank you.’ Grillby nodded appreciatively. 

“Goldwell.” Shrubberthree giggled. “Do ten push ups.” 

“Easy!” Undyne cheered, “Ya should make it fifty.”

“Easy for you!” Goldwell hissed. He reluctantly got into position. One was easy, the second was wobbly, the third was less good, he stopped trying after the forth, only doing half movements.

Undyne slapped her leg, “That ain’t a proper push up!”

“Whatever, I don’t care.” The sandy lizard sneered, quitting at five. He grabbed his drink and finished it. 

“Aw, I think you could have done it.” Papyrus smiled supportively. He was met with a glare in response from Goldwell.

Now his turn to choose, Goldwell pointed at Dogaressa, “Act like ‘The Great Papyrus’.” He suggested in a snide tone.

The dog laughed, “Okay… Hello friends, are you ready for friendship, too much energy and potentially dangerous situations? Then look no further than me, Papyrus, your instant best friend and partner in possible crime! Can I interest you in spaghetti?” She said in a rough estimation of Papyrus’s voice.

Even Grillby laughed at her impression. Everyone found it fairly amusing. Sans grinned over to her, “What’s up, bro? Nice costume you got there.” He said. 

“I’m not that bad!” Papyrus called, mock offended, but couldn’t help but laugh along.

“Sans, you next.” Dogaressa said. “You’ll want truth, won’t you? So, continuing the theme…” She reverted to her Papyrus impression, “Sans, what do you _really_ think of my cooking?” 

Papyrus’s eyes flashed up to Sans in a look of warning. Sans did the same, though he instead looked slightly nervous. 

“Well…” He started. “It used to be pretty rough, but I think that boiled down to experience. You’ve been improving a lot recently, with Undyne’s help. Keep it up and you won’t just be the pasta master.” Sans gave a sleepy but honest smile. 

Papyrus smiled back, satisfied.

Sans eyed Cloud, sitting their bowl. “Dare you to dance non-stop for five minutes.” 

“Can I do truth instead, please?” Cloud squeaked. They sounded like they needed a good sleep. 

“Sure… What was the deal between you and Egg? Were you together, or…?”

A shiver ran through Cloud’s amorphous body. It was plain to see from their reaction that they did not want this question. “I… we, we were housemates.” They tried to smile.

Sans looked at Undyne. They exchanged knowing looks. “Hmm, I think there might have been more than that.” Sans prodded. 

“W-well. I guess. I guess we were m-more than friends.” Cloud sunk into the bowl they sat in.

“Is that all?” Sans pushed once more, with a playfully sceptical look.

Shrubberthree looked disproving. “Stop it, you know that’s sensitive.” They pushed back.

“Sorry.” Sans mumbled.

Cloud looked nervous, “Umm, Undyne… Sorry, I can’t think o-of anything… Uh, what’s the meaning of life?” They asked unimaginatively.

Undyne slammed down her drink, “GETTING’ RIPPED AND MAKIN’ FRIENDS!” She yelled. A few cheers followed. “Goldwell, what d’ you want?” 

“Dare.” The lizard said plainly. 

“Eat that spider!” Undyne said, pointing up to a top corner of the ceiling where a large fluffy spider sat. Brown with a cute tiny bobble hat. Papyrus wondered how he hadn’t seen it, the little thing watched the group intently. It flinched, looking for an escape as attention was drawn to it.

A squeal came from a slightly unexpected place. Cloudnine ducked low like a frightened kitten. 

“I’m not doing that.” Goldwell grumbled, also looking unnerved. He finished his drink instead. 

‘I’ll get it.’ Grillby rose from his seat to carefully remove the spider, placing it outside. 

However, even though it was gone, Cloud did not settle, they rose quickly into the air. “T-thank you so much, I had a lot of fun, b-but I’m super tired now. I'm gonna go, o-okay?”

“Really? Are you sure you’re alright?” Papyrus asked, concerned. 

“Oh, o-of course. Goodnight everyone!” They flitted out through the crack of the door as Grillby returned inside. 

Shrubberthree’s flowery heads swayed, “Poor thing.” They whispered. 

“I’ll take their turn.” Dogaressa said quickly. “Undyne, I dare you to strip.”

Without flinching, Undyne sprang from the sofa, intent of following up on the challenge.

“No!” Papyrus intervened quickly. “This is not that sort of party.”

“Aw, c’mon!” Undyne retorted.

Standing his ground, Papyrus replied, “My house, my rules.”

“Fine I’ll ask a question then.” Dogaressa folded her arms. “So, who d’ you think is the murderer?” 

Undyne grinned, “Actually, my new prime suspect just left.” She answered quietly, as if sharing a secret.

“Undyne!” Papyrus scolded once more.

“Yeah, you can’t say that.” Shrubberthree said, sounding offended. 

The warrior shrugged, “You asked. Fine. Sans, go kiss Grillby.” Undyne ordered, flopping back into her seat. 

Sans, slowly processing the request, turned to look at her, his eyes wide. Undyne motioned for him to go. Just as sluggishly, Sans lifted his drink. “Heh, gonna sit that one out-.” 

He was silenced by ‘boo’s from the group. Even Papyrus was way too curious to support Sans on this one. 

Undyne laughed, “If you don’t do it this time, we’re all gonna just keep daring until you do it.” 

Sans’ eyes fell on Grillby, who looked completely relaxed. 

Like a deer in the headlights, Sans looked mortified. Papyrus thought his reaction odd, had he really not expected anything like this? Had the two not kissed? That idea was pretty silly, to Papyrus. Sans slowly looked back up to Undyne.

“Look. Either that or ya gotta tell us who’s top and bottom.” Undyne shrugged.

Sans couldn’t have looked more freaked out. He turned back to Grillby once more. 

‘Well?’ The elemental said simply.

At that, Sans pushed himself off his seat, wading through the sea of empty cans at the centre of the group circle. Goldwell quickly steadying several half drank ones, which stood unattended. Papyrus was sure they were all his, which he’d opened and left. Sans knelt beside Grillby, looking hopelessly lost. “I don’t have lips.” 

Finally pushing his hesitation aside, Sans leaned in and placed his best imitation of a kiss to Grillby’s cheek. The elemental’s flames curling and crackling, a slight pink colour. The others cheered them on. When Sans went to pull away, Grillby caught him, pulling him back. He repeated what Sans had done, a little more successfully. Their onlookers, especially Undyne, were loving it. Sans blushed a deep blue, grinning at his partner as he stumbled back to his seat. 

There was a ‘clunk’ as Goldwell fell face forwards onto the ground. With a poke it was confirmed that he had fallen asleep. 

“Heh. Alright, there you go.” Sans chuckled, his eyes falling back to Grillby, who’s magic buzzed warmly. “Shrub, who has the best ass in the room?” He asked a little more confident.

Papyrus rolled his eyes.

The plant looked strangely blank for a moment, “Well, I don’t know. Naming someone c-could make them feel potentially v-very self-conscious.” They stammered, swaying, petals drooping around their heads.

“Fine.” Sans said, “Why not make as many puns as you can?” 

Shrubberthree shivered oddly. “Y-yeah sure.” They said, as if about to be sick. “Um, how about… how about…” They shivered more severely once again.

“You okay?” Dogaressa asked, worried. 

“I…I…” The plant monster shook, their stems drooping strangely. Sans and Undyne joked loudly to each other, already distracted, neither noticing their potentially ill friend. 

As Papyrus was about to get up, to inspect the plant closer, they snapped out of their shaking. Shrub’s heads rose slowly, their little black eyes somehow duller. “No.” They said in a hollow voice. “I don’t think I will.”

“You don’t have to, don’t blame ya really.” Dogaressa replied, still looking unnerved. 

One of the plant monster’s heads began muttering, the words garbled and lost. “Your childish games sicken us. We give you warnings and this is how you spend your time?” They said clearer, in a voice that was definitely not Shrubberthree’s.

Oh. Wait. Something sparked in Papyrus’s mind. This was the same strange phenomenon as he’d seen before. Politely, he smiled at the monster, “If you wouldn’t mind me asking, who is ‘us’?” 

A single flower head whipped around to face Papyrus. “The one you all forgot. We grow stronger. We grow more impatient the longer you all dawdle!”

“HAH! _Grow!_ Get it?” Sans yelled. “See, Shrub, it’s not that hard.”

Ignoring his brother and the increasingly odd looks from the others, Papyrus continued, “Well, lovely for you to stop by! Umm… You don’t have to play, you can just talk instead?”

“No. It is this one’s turn.” They sternly said, “They get to ask a question.” Shrubberthree(?) turned their heads across to Grillby. “Why do you not remember us? I thought of everyone, it might be you.” They said sadly.

Grillby blinked slowly. ‘Sorry?’

Ignoring Grillby, the heads snapped up to Sans. “Apprentice, how is it that your mind is so stubborn? Even after Alphys tried to help you understand?” This time, they sounded angered.

“Huh, what was that?” Sans asked, his attention finally drawn back. 

Undyne’s eyes also flicked across, “Yeah, wha’ was that?”

“This does not concern you.” Shrubberthree spat at Undyne. “It has _never_ concerned you.” 

“… Dunno what ya talking about, but I feel offended by it. What’d ya just say about Alphys, though?” The warrior muttered. 

“She is somewhere in here with me. Where she’s not supposed to be! She hides, where I cannot see her…” They hissed in reply.

“W-what?” Undyne snorted in humour, though it was clear the words bothered her. “I think ya got that twisted. I know you’re messin’. Don’t say her name.”

Their new guest looked back to the skeleton nearly asleep on the sofa, “Sans, who taught you to fight?”

“Umm. Anime?” Sans grinned, shrugging his shoulders. Undyne laughed at that.

The muttering increased in volume, an angry cacophony. “I suggest you all rally yourselves. Time draws near a closure. I have the human almost in my grasp, almost. _Almost.”_

“Wha’ was that ‘bout a human?” Goldwell stirred, half asleep on the floor.

Shrub continued, “There are others who wish to take it. Ones who will use it.” They looked at Papyrus and Grillby, their words desperate. “You must destroy it or remove it from the Underground. If I manage to find a way, I will steal it. If that happens, it will likely be your end. Do not forget this!” their words were forceful, insistent. 

“Ooh, spooky!” Undyne snickered.

“Do not forget.” ‘Shrubberthree’ hissed slowly. Eyes fading in colour, they lost their balance and toppled over, like a puppeteer dropping the strings of their doll. With that, the plant monster passed out on the floor. 

Grillby leaned over, prodding them. Confused but content the little monster was in no danger, he returned to his seat. 

“That was weird.” Dogaressa remarked, finishing her drink. 

Papyrus opened his mouth to reply when Undyne interrupted.

“Who’s up for hide and seek?!” She shouted.

Completely done with the excitement, Papyrus stood. “No thank you. Do enjoy yourselves, I’m going to bed.” 

“… Does that mean they’ll be no one to tell us we can do stupid things?” Sans asked, his grin widening.

Papyrus looked scared. 

‘I’ll make sure everyone stays safe.’ Grillby reassured. 

“Thank you.” Papyrus smiled appreciatively. He hadn’t noticed until now, but the elementals flames wisped in blues atop his head. The skeleton figured it was thanks to the alcohol he consumed. 

Papyrus headed for the stairs. “Goodnight, don’t wreck my house while I’m gone!” He shut his bedroom door, hearing their laughter downstairs. The sound of glass smashing caused him to wince. It was terribly late. He hurried to bed.


	36. Back on the job

Papyrus awoke at his usual time. He was tired, and it took him a moment to remember why. He had retired to bed incredibly late, even by his standards. The memory of the party continuing on after him, spurred him to life. Sans was not in his bed, which still sat in the middle of Papyrus’s floor, so he had presumably slept on the couch. 

Jumping out of bed, he headed straight for the door. Coffee was calling him and Papyrus was sure the others would appreciate him making some for them, also.

The moment he opened his door, Papyrus was hit with an awful smell. Alcohol and burning? It was something he recognised from Grillby’s bar, though without the added smell of unhealthy food. 

He leaned over the banister, taking in the sight below. “Oh my-.” Papyrus was stunned into silence at the mess. Empty cans filled nearly every available space on the floor. The crate of beer still had a few cans remaining, shockingly. 

Grillby, who’s flames were still mostly blue, was asleep on the floor. Undyne lay on top of him, both looking remarkably comfortable. Sans was asleep on the couch, as expected. However, he was hanging over the back, with his face mushed into the cushions. He was also naked.

Papyrus backed away, hoping for his coffee more than ever. His head bumped into something, which made him whip around in surprise. Dogaressa was stuck to the ceiling. 

Grabbing her with blue magic, she was pulled to the ground, where she mumbled but continued to sleep. 

Moving around the room was tricky with so many obstacles. The windows were opened to allow some fresh air inside, and Papyrus gathered some of the open, mostly full cans. Many of them had been Goldwell’s, if he remembered. They could go in the fridge for later, save them being wasted. 

Room was made inside the fridge. Papyrus pulled open the salad drawer as he organised the space. Inside, on a bed of lettuce and cuddling with the tomatoes was Shrubberthree. Papyrus blinked slowly before kicking the drawer shut, along with the fridge door. 

The kettle was at least beginning to boil now… A rustling caught his attention behind the sofa. The annoying little white dog jumped out. It looked at Papyrus and barked, playfully wagging its tail. 

Storming to the front door, Papyrus kicked it open. “Out!” He ordered. 

The dog darted outside. Yet another thing caught the skeleton’s eye. A giant fallen pine tree lay in front of their house, an extensive root system still attached. Well then. 

The kettle whistled behind him, drawing his attention away once more. 

“Coffee!” Papyrus called to the room. Grillby’s flames crackled, as he stirred. Instead of rising, his arms wrapped around Undyne. Dogaressa mumbled something.

“I SAID COFFEE!” Papyrus screeched. 

They moved at that, most jolting awake at the rudely loud noise. Dogaressa was the first to sit up. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” She groaned, shielding her eyes from the morning light. 

Papyrus shoved a mug into her paws. The dog took a while to focus on him. “Ay, hello Bones.” She grinned. 

‘Is everyone still alive?’ Grillby asked, his eyes still not open yet. 

“Yes. I’m rather impressed none of you died of alcohol poisoning.” Papyrus answered. 

There was a crash as Sans slid head first off the sofa, with a forward roll, he clattered beside Dogaressa. “O-oh God, what’s going on?” He looked around wildly, in complete panic. He patting himself down, as if to check whether he was still in one piece. “Papyrus, is that you?” Sans squinted up at his brother, he laughed in relief. “Thank goodness, I had a dream Undyne had eaten you.” 

“Not yet, Sans.” Papyrus sighed. Shrubberthree waddled out, shutting the fridge behind them. “Mornin’ everyone, sleep well?” They said cheerily, shoving a root into their coffee. They sat beside Sans as he leaned sluggishly against the sofa. “Aren’t you cold?” They asked him.

“I can’t feel my legs.” Sans replied.

“Cool.” Dogaressa commented. 

Papyrus helped Grillby, who was trying desperately to heave Undyne off him. She was still dead to the world.

 

It took a while to get everyone moving. Shrubberthree, who was by far in the best shape, concocted a herbal tea. “Perfect for headaches and possible poisoning.” They informed. 

Grillby was stumbling around, helping with the cleaning. Three rubbish bags were filled with discarded cans and several stains scrubbed from the floor.

“I don’t remember you going to bed, Papyrus.” Shrub chirped as they tended to another of the skeletons’ dying house plants.

He chuckled in response, “Understandable. I believe you were possessed at the time.” 

“Ah, so that’s what happened. I remember everything after, though. Undyne got dared to climb a tree. She then proposed to the tree and took it home with her, then she made out with the tree. Grillby was the responsible adult, for about ten minutes before falling asleep. Dogaressa nearly suffocated. We had to give her CPR to revive her… and Sans…” Shrubberthree stopped to giggle wildly.

“Please don’t tell me.” Sans begged, struggling to keep his eyes open. He mumbled like someone had shoved a sock in his mouth. “It’ll only increase my self-loathing… I still can’t feel my legs.”

Papyrus pulled a large sweater from the washer and hurled it at his brother. Sans didn’t appear to register the thing hitting him. “Would you please put some clothes on. You’re scheduled to be back at work this morning. Grillby is starting his new job, too, and I hoped you would show him the ropes.”

“Hey, Grillbz. Jus’ stand somewhere and do whatever. Don’t anger the forest folk. Most importantly, whatever you do, don’t have fun. There, job done.” Sans grumbled.

‘Thank you, Sans.’ 

“Come on, Sans, I won’t let you disgrace this family.” Papyrus scolded. 

Shrubberthree giggled once more. “I think we passed that point last night!”

“Did I fuck someone?” Sans mumbled, with a hint of fear. “I did, didn’t I? Ah no! Someone fucked me, didn’t they?!” His voice rising back into mild panic.

“Well…” Shrub continued to giggle.

“Ah no!”

“Sans, calm down!” Papyrus snapped. 

There was a muffled cry outside, which caused the room to fall silent. Everyone slowly exchanged glances until the frightened shout sounded again. Wordlessly, Papyrus made his way to the door. 

“Help!” 

Concerned, the skeleton searched out the troubled monster. There didn’t appear to be anyone else around. 

“Up here!” 

Papyrus whipped around and-. “What the?” 

Clutching the side of the roof was Goldwell. He was hanging on, about to fall, his feet clawing at the slippery surface. “Yes, very nice. NOW GET ME DOWN!” He screeched, voice hoarse and raspy, the sound cutting in and out with the effort. 

Papyrus grasped his soul with magic and gently lowered the lizard back down. Goldwell let out a scream of pure terror as he was pulled away from where he hung. He continued to thrash until his feet touched the ground.

Shrubberthree stifled a laugh, though their friend gave an unimpressed sneer towards the plant monster. “How did I get up there?!” He asked, shiver either from the cold or the fright, wobbling as he walked, “I just woke up, I nearly slipped off. _I could have died!”_

Papyrus thought he was being a little overdramatic. Though maybe that was just by his standards.

Realising there was no point in forcing his hungover friends to move, Papyrus allowed the Sentries the day off. He didn’t think Undyne would particularly mind, she was still passed out on the floor, completely unresponsive. Instead, Papyrus filled each of the guests a carrier bag of beer, to at least get it out of the house. With the place looking tidier than it had done, Papyrus shoved on his boots and set off for work. 

 

It took most of the day before Sans finally moved from his seat. His head wasn’t spinning quite as much, at least. He could remember some bits of the previous evening, though not much… They had run around town with the sausage cannon. Gone back home and played that dumb game. He’d had a mini throwdown with Undyne; and something had happened with Grillby. 

Speaking of the flame monster, a baggy jumper had been tugged over Sans’ head and he’d been placed on the couch. He was unsure whether it’d been Grillby or Papyrus to do that. Forcing himself to stay awake, Sans got himself ready for the day. Afterall, he had his meeting with Muffet later. He had to look presentable for that… or at least turn up in something other than one of Papyrus’s old turtle necks. 

Noisily pushing open his bedroom door, Sans was surprised to see Grillby asleep on his (Sans’) bed; he’d somehow forgotten that his room had been claimed by their guest. Carefully he attempted to not wake the other while dizzily wobbling about.

‘Good morning, Sans.’

“Good morn’. It’s four in the afternoon, if you’re wondering.” Sans chuckled.

‘Oh dear.’ Grillby sat up slowly, rubbing a hand across his face. 

Sans shrugged, “It’s alright, not like anyone cares around here. Everyone else has gone out. Except Undyne, she’s still on the floor.” He paused, about to leave the room, “Hey, did I kiss you last night?” 

‘I suppose one could call it that.’ Grillby sleepily replied.

“Right.” Sans turned to leave, but stopped once more. “Hey, do you… You know? Like me? Like, _like me?_ You know what I mean?” 

The two looked at each other for several long seconds. ‘A little.’ 

“A little?” Sans repeated, as if they were chatting about anything less complicated. 

‘A lot.’ Grillby corrected himself. 

Sans didn’t react. “Oh, okay. This a recent thing or…?”

‘For a few years now.’ 

“Few years?” Sans let a fraction of his surprise slip. “Well, ain’t that something… You want coffee? Tea?”

‘No thank you.’ Grillby replied, reacting about as much as Sans was. 

“Alright. Laters.” Sans smiled, shutting the door behind him… What the hell just happened? 

 

As night fell, Sans waited around the entrance which separated Snowdin from Waterfall. A curving archway of trees along the pathway. It was easy to tell he’d got the correct time, as spiders scuttled in and out of shadows, up branches and across leaves. They were all wrapped up warm.

Loud rustling within the bushes caught the skeleton’s attention. He sauntered towards the sound. “Muffet?” Sans called into the darkness, quiet but clear. 

The bush beside his foot shifted and a giggle was heard from behind. In less than a second, Sans moved to turn. Something caught around his arm. As he looked down, he was abruptly pulled off the ground, into the trees. The air caught in his throat as Sans swung upside down, one of his slippers flying off. 

He gasped as someone seized his shoulders, steadying him. Suddenly face to face with Muffet, who beamed at Sans with a jagged smile. “Well hello there, dearie.” She greeted. 

“H-hey, Muffet!” Sans grinned, as if incredibly pleased to see her. 

“You walked right into my little trap.” She said playfully, eyes flashing with… something.

Sans was getting dizzy, “Can you put me the right way up, please, I feel sick.” He laughed humourlessly. 

Muffet giggled again, tilting her head, as if deciding whether or not to do as requested. With a tug on the webbing, she pulled Sans down to sit beside her. They were perched on a tree branch. “Better?”

“Much, thank you. I’ve seen your spider buddies around, in their little hats and coats. I suppose I should be calling them _anoraknids._ ” Sans sheepishly said, trying to make natural sounding conversation after the scare he’d been given. 

She actually laughed at that one, though Sans was unsure whether it was his joke or the state he was in. “And what is happening in your world, Sans? Enjoying your freedom?”

Sans pressed a hand over his aching head. “Yeah, always good to not be in prison.” He said rather awkwardly, “Sorry, I’m really hungover, my best friend just told me he fancies me. We have people freaking out and talking gibberish, everything is going wrong, and I think I might have fucked Undyne last night.” 

“… Best friend? Isn’t that your brother.” 

“No.” Sans stopped, wondering how exactly she’d reached that conclusion. 

Muffet bumped his arm, “Go on, I won’t tell.” 

“It’s not Papyrus! It’s Grillby, obviously!” Sans laughed. 

“I’m just messing with you, I know. Ah, my condolences for dear Dr Alphys. I see Undyne is staying with you, also. I don’t suppose you can shed any light on what happened there?” Muffet pried. 

“Sorry, can’t say I can.” Sans lied, “Real tragic, you know?”

“Indeed.” The spider said unsympathetically. “Now, to the matter at hand…” She prompted.

“Oh yeah.” Sans rummaged inside his pocket and pulled out a large bag of gold. “All there for you, in full.” 

Muffet peered inside, raising her eyebrows. She handed it off to a spider beside her, who began counting the bags contents. “I knew you were one of my favourites for a reason, my dear.” She smirked.

“Well, that’s the good thing about being the Judge, they don’t pay you in dog biscuits, like the Sentries get half the time.”

Her smile widened into something from a horror movie. Muffet chuckled delightedly at the information. 

“Oh, c’mon, you knew.” Sans nudged her arm. “Everyone seems to know these days.”

“I had my suspicions you’d stepped down, with the hall being closed.” Muffet said. 

Sans shook his head. “Nah, just made a few changes, not my choice. I’m sure you’ll pick them up over the _web_ soon enough. So, you figured out who our killer is yet?”

Muffet pulled a thinking pose, rocking back on the tree branch. “Not exactly. There is definitely something strange going on in your beloved little town. Lots of folks running scared over a few spiders. Almost like they don’t want me to see what they’re doing.” She gave a sly smile. 

Sans thought back to the previous evening, how one monster in particular had reacted to the eight-legged creatures. “You know anything about a guy called Cloudnine? They’re a… well, they’re a cloud.” 

“Hmm, I know them. You should’ve seen my face when I found out _they_ were Egg’s little friend!” She laughed shrilly. “Odd little one. Keeps stacks of books on different types of magic. They have a whole binder about theories on magic that could break through the barrier. Aside from the weather, it appears to be their only interest.” 

Sans’ mind was drawn back to a time some weeks ago. When a depressed looking Cloudnine had mentioned Resets and human souls while talking at Grillby’s. 

Muffet continued, “If you fancy taking a look for yourself, the little thing is going to New Home to work for a few days. I’d say that’s plenty of opportunity to investigate their property. I’ll let one of my babies copy down their calendar for you.” 

“Really?” Sans hummed in thought. “Anyone else of interest?” A spider descended from their web and handed Sans a piece of torn paper, it included messily written dates and times for Cloud’s schedule for the next two months. “Oh, thanks.” 

“That damn flower is always a pain.” She tutted, bitterness clear in her voice. 

“Shrubberthree? Why? I like them, they snuck me free shit into jail.” Sans grinned.

“That’s exactly the reason! They make their ‘herbal remedies’ much easier than I can get my hand on products. Then they give them out for free, or give discounts because they’re feeling generous. They don’t get into trouble, because _half of the Guard are paying customers!_ How am I to compete with that? AND, she knows I watch. Whenever one of my spiders makes it into their house, they’re eaten by bug catching plants, hidden around the place!” 

Sans found himself enjoying his chat with Muffet more than any time he’d spoken to her previously. He nodded along to her frustrations, though he still had more queries. “Don’t suppose you know any monsters who can mimic magic, or even appearance? Any been around here?” 

Muffet tapped at her knee, interested by the question. “There are a few. I keep a very close eye on them, don’t trust them at all. Doppelgangers, Face Stealers… None in Snowdin though, they don’t like the cold. Why?”

“Someone is using my magic at these crime scenes. Even when I was in jail, with what happened to Grillby’s. That’s what got me out.” Sans informed. “Papyrus thinks it might be something with the ability to copy magic signatures, to an exact match.”

“Afraid I don’t know any monsters who can do that, dearie.” Muffet shrugged. 

Sans grit his teeth, “Then… Have I been doing anything weird? I dunno, midnight walks, acting funny?” 

“You fear you’re being controlled?” Muffet asked, “I’m not aware of many monsters with mind altering abilities. Purple magic could do such, I suppose, if the controlling aspect was strong.” 

Sans shook his head, “I don’t think it’s that. I’m sure we don’t have any Purple users in Snowdin, anyway. The closest to that are the forest dwellers, and it’s not them.”

Muffet patted his shoulder in mild reassurance. “Well, I’ve not seen anything like that yet. If I do, you’ll be the first to know.” 

“Thanks.” Sans sighed. Her knowledge was comforting, though it still failed to answer crucial questions they needed to solve. 

“Actually, not just in Snowdin, but everywhere; there has been rather a lot of monsters going into trances. They stop for a while, jibber about, say the most ridiculous things before returning to normal. Occasionally though, they go missing.” She spoke quietly. 

“Papyrus is looking into that. I dunno anything either.” The skeleton replied, matching her volume. Not wanting to potentially mention Alphys while discussing the phenomenon, Sans changed the subject. “So, do I just wait for your spiders to tell me things or can I speak to you without having to go all the way to Hotland?”

Muffet called over a larger spider carrying a package, which she removed from its grip. “The cloth was unwrapped to reveal two clear orbs, palm sized and a little scuffed from use. “Take a sending stone. If you activate yours, meet me in the lowest most floor of Hotlands tower, the basement level. The cooling chamber is always unlocked. I’ll be waiting there. If I call you, we meet here. Keep it on you.” Muffet whispered close to Sans’ ear. 

“Got it.” It was a system he’d used plenty back in the labs. It was discreet and utterly impossible for an outsider to decipher, unless one had knowledge of what the signals meant. He appreciated her use of the tool. “Odd question. Haven’t heard about a human lying about anywhere, have you?” Sans asked, moving on.

“Oh, this again.” The spider rolled her eyes in boredom. “It’s the talk of the town recently. Books about human and monster fusions on people’s shelves, talking about it in the streets… That ‘businessman’ likes to tell everyone who’ll listen!”

“Goldwell? Undyne shut down a thing of his, the other day.”

“And he should learn his place!” Muffet nearly hissed. “I gave him a firm warning years ago, but did it stop him? The fool is delusional.” 

“But he still believes there’s a human living somewhere.” Sans half joked. 

Muffet gave Sans an incredulous look. “Do you believe there’s one amongst us? Surely a seer could tell instantly?” 

She was correct, Sans certainly hadn’t seen a human. If there was one out there, they must be very well hidden. Could a human hide in plain sight? “I don’t think so.” Sans agreed.

Muffet chuckled venomously, “If there _was_ a human anywhere down here, dearie, it’d be long dead and I’d be long gone.” 

 

Thankfully by the following day, the residents of the skeleton household had mostly recovered from their alcoholic rampage. Undyne still seemed in a daze, though that was likely because she had stayed unmoving on the floor for nearly twenty-four hours. 

Grillby prepared them all breakfast as the friends chattered with enthusiasm. Today was Grillby’s first day of ‘The Sentry Life’, as Papyrus called it. 

After Papyrus had meticulously washed and dried the dishes, he dragged the elemental upstairs by the arm. The only one to have not seen Grillby’s new armour, the skeleton was extremely excited. 

A while later, after much of Papyrus‘s overly energetic shouting and a few crashes and bangs, the two re-emerged. 

“Dang, dude! That looks awesome!” Undyne grinned. She stood up, meeting Grillby at the bottom of the stairs, tugging and poking at the half plate and its fastenings. “Fits really well.”

“Thank you.” Grillby replied, a little embarrassed if the curling of his flames was anything to go by.

It all looked comfortable and secure. The helmet had rightfully been left off, the thing had looked a little too unnatural for Sans’ liking. This was Snowdin, after all, nobody expected use for that. 

“One more thing!” Papyrus threw a large black piece of material from the top of the stairs, where it landed atop of the flame monster. A thick lose fitting hooded cloak was pulled over Grillby’s shoulders. “You’ll be cold otherwise.” Papyrus informed. It looked even smarter with that worn also.

 

After realising an induction from Sans would be useless, Papyrus left their newest Sentry in Dogaressa’s care. She was more than welcoming, prodding at the styled chainmail around the abdominal armour. “I might have to leave early. We got a call last night that there’s someone coming down to meet me and the husband.” She mentioned offhandedly. 

The pair departed, heading towards Snowdin forest. Papyrus was down in Hotland today, meeting the bear and fly monsters who had been assigned to help him. Papyrus had gone to the trouble of getting them cards, apologising for his absence and lack of friendship. Sans had forgotten the two were even supposed to be helping. 

Not wanting to get in anyone’s way, Sans opted to stroll along Snowdin’s main path. With no one checking up on him, the skeleton could do as he pleased. For now, the walk was nice. 

As his mind absently wondered, Sans recalled his hungover chat with Grillby yesterday. Not wanting to dwell on the memory, he tried his best to clear it from his mind… However, it proved persistent and unwilling to leave. 

A few years. That was how long Grillby had apparently liked him as more than a friend. Why Sans? Almost every other monster in the Under ground would be more adept at holding together a relationship than him. Surely, Grillby of all people would be aware that Sans was a terrible choice of partner. How many nights had the skeleton broken down in front of the elemental? Gotten blackout drunk and rambled into the night until Papyrus was called to collect him? And yet, Grillby still liked him. 

Gross, that was way too cheesy. 

As much of a shock this development was, Sans found himself not terribly against the idea. Surprisingly, he wasn’t in the least be uncomfortable. There was some guilt, for not noticing sooner. The fake dating thing had been a mistake, hadn’t it? He’d never intended for it to bring pain or burden. 

Heh, no wonder Grillby had never argued about the arrangement. 

Truth was, Sans knew he’d have to let Grillby down. He could be so emotionally numb that it was pointless to even try, that would get his friends hopes up even more, and Sans couldn’t spoil what they already had. But then, if they did try, and the pair ended up working out; there was always the chance of a Reset. 

Sans chuckled grimly. There was no way he could put himself through that. Over the last few weeks his relationship with Undyne had improved into something Sans never thought possible. It would be tough losing even that small delicate friendship. Anything more than that would be too much for his fragile soul to bare.

After all, staying numb was better than heartbreak. Bitterly, Sans wondered whether he’d been too numb for too long to feel something so warm and new, without pretending. 

For now, Sans decided he would do as he did best- ignoring the problem until it went away. Grillby wasn’t making anything weird between them, so they could just continue pretending nothing had happened. That worked, right? 

As the skeleton meandered down the main street, something new caught his eye. Goldwell’s tours stand sat beside Snowdin’s brightly illuminated sign. A small gazebo had been set up above it, a scrappy looking sign board was nailed into the ground, it read ‘Coffee.’. Haphazard chairs and tables were scattered in front of the stall. Odd mismatched chairs, a hammock, a few boxes, and an old mangled swing chair were amongst the makeshift furniture. 

Was Goldwell cashing in on the absence of Grillby’s? Only a few weeks after it had been blown up, in nearly the same location, and only two days since Gold’s last business attempt had been shut down? Ooh! How slimy! Then again, if Sans hadn’t been friends with the flame monster, he’d have probably done the same. 

Unexpectedly, there were a few people sat around the tables with paper cups. Dogamy sat chatting with Shrubberthree around an upturned bath, being used as a table; while two of the bunnies winced at whatever was in their cup. Sans had a pretty good guess. 

Of course, ‘Coffee.’ Was manned by none other than the lizard himself. 

“Nice _tea_ see you, Gold.” Sans called as he approached.

Goldwell shuddered at the joke. “Good day, Sans, how are you? How’s your brother?” 

“We’re good as ever, thanks. My bros in Hotland today, reacquainting himself with his team of detectives.” Sans informed. He leaned on the shabby countertop, but stepped back quickly as it began to topple. 

Goldwell looked surprised, “Other Guard units are helping with the investigation?” 

“Well, yeah. It’s a big problem, killer on the loose. Heck, even Undyne is trying to find time to help. Understandable, since she’s Papyrus’s best friend.” Sans said matter of factly. 

“Right.” The lizard shifted cautiously before a forced grin broke onto his face. “B-but the more help, the better. We do indeed need to get this mess cleaned up.” 

Sans scrutinised the jittery monster. “Ya don’t like the Guard, do you? That because you were locked up for a while?” He lazily smiled.

Goldwell held his breath for several seconds. “Somewhat, though I dislike them in general. They unnerve me.” He answered quickly. “Their people have… let me down in the past. It has left something of a sour taste in my mouth.” 

Sans found his words to be true, though there was more to be said, which was understandable. Goldwell was secretive, he wasn’t going to divulge his possibly illegal activities, not all of them anyway. “Bet it’s not great for business, either.” Sans added. 

“No.” Shiftily, Gold searched either side of them, all eight of his pink eyes glinting in the streetlight. He leaned over the counter, towards Sans, motioning for him to do the same. The skeleton complied, leaning in for Goldwell to whisper. “While we’re discussing such topics… I’ve noticed a quite large presence of spiders recently. Some have been rather intrusive on my private property.” The words were whispered with a hiss. 

Nodding, Sans snickered. “Not a fan of Muffet?” He asked, not caring enough to be too quiet.

Goldwell flinched, “Do not speak her name!” He hissed, pupils shrinking. “No. I don’t believe many admire that _creature._ ” 

The hard bite of his words brought only humour to Sans. “Well, not gonna pretend I know much, but the spiders might be lending a pair of hands with the investigation, too… Or should I say, four pairs of hands.” Sans winked. 

If his reaction to the Guard had been negative, Goldwell showed nothing but pure hatred towards the spiders. Looking down onto his counter, the reptile bared his uneven fangs, an animalistic glint in his eyes as his pupils further shrank into slits. “You know that for sure?” He questioned.

“Sure as I can be.” Sans smirked, amused by his friend. “You had problems with them before?” 

“Yes. When I was young and naive, I believed I could trust them.” He mumbled bitterly, “I leaned my lesson.” Gold lifted his crumpled tail in indication.

Oh, so it had been Muffet’s goons who smashed the lizard’s tail to pieces. Clearly Goldwell hadn’t been a great judge of character. Sans winced. “Just ignore them until they’re done. They’ll be gone soon enough.” He suggested.

“I shall try.” Goldwell replied in an unpleasant tone. He sighed, his features returning mostly to normal. “I like you, Sans. You’re not like those Guards the other Sentries suck up to. Your people are treated like dirt- your job is redundant of use these days. Undyne aught to promote you or find a better use for your team.” 

“It’s not so bad.” Sans smiled, “The dogs love it and my bro is being trained by Undyne. So he’ll get into the Guard one day.” 

“Yes, your brother does face action well, though I believe him to be rather on the soft side. You think he would fit in with their crowd?” Goldwell asked, interested. 

Sans rolled his shoulders, slouching. “I kinda worry ‘bout that too. He can stand up for himself, but Papyrus wouldn’t hurt a fly. Might seem like he has a thick skull but he’s actually pretty sensitive… I think Undyne is also concerned about that, she’s been training him for a long time now. They mostly just cook together now, I don’t think she has much idea of what to do with him.” Sans admitted. 

“So, she’s misleading him, then.” Goldwell concluded, bluntly. 

“Well… Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Goldwell was correct, even if Sans didn’t want to admit it. Despite everything, he still struggled to imagine Papyrus in the Guard. 

“So, what are you doing here?” Sans asked, trying to lighten the mood. 

“Coffee.” Goldwell stated. He patted a coffee maker at his side. He clicked it on, letting the machine boil. “You can have a free sample, as long as you tell everyone to come here.” 

“Sure thing.” Sans grinned.

They watched as the machine spat the liquid into the paper cup, the paper looking a little too thin to work well for hot drinks. Gold snatched it out when it was done. “Milk, sugar?”

“No milk, eight sugars, please.” Sans said, watching as the lizard ducked down behind the counter, out of sight. Sans eyed some leaflets piled on the side. They mostly advertised other businesses the lizard was likely part of. One which caught Sans’ eye, was one associated with Shrubberthree’s charity. They were holding a speed dating event soon. Sans pocketed a leaflet, Papyrus might be interested.

“Try it!” Goldwell said, popping back up. The drink looked a strange colour, milky, even though he’d asked for no milk. 

One thing Sans could say he was skilled at was not reacting to bad tastes. He’d had a lot of practice over the years. So, upon trying Goldwell’s coffee, he hummed in fake enjoyment “Nice! You’ve got a good thing _brewing_ here. Thanks, Gold.” Sans grinned.

The lizard beamed, showing a vicious set of jagged teeth. Though he had no outward magic to speak of, Sans could imagine the monster could easily rip a foe’s arm off if he needed to defend himself. “It’s my own blend.” He happily announced, accepting the compliment. 

Sans stood around for a while longer, the drink burning his fingers a little through the thin paper, which began to drip after a short time. They made idle conversation, though Sans’ attention was secretly on Dogamy and Shrub, who chatted a few feet behind him. 

“You sure ya don’t have anything stronger?” Dogamy asked, sounding horribly tired. 

“Nothing that you can take while working. Anything stronger and it could slowly take away your HP, after long enough.” Shrubberthree tried to explain. “Is the one I gave you not working anymore?”

“It never was.” The dog grumbled. “You got something that might help me sleep?” 

“I do, but… you can’t take it alongside the pain relief, they use the same ingredients.” They answered sadly. “You haven’t been doubling them with what the hospital gives you, have you?” 

“Might have.” There was a movement of fabric, which Sans though to be the dog shrugging. “Doesn’t matter, right, it works sometimes.”

The little plant gasped lightly, “No, no, you shouldn’t! Dogamy, you know heavy medication like that can affect your magic. Herbal lessens the risk, but it’s still a risk, especially the amount you need! The last thing you want is to wake up and find a chunk of you has dusted off- because I’ve heard of that happening.” 

“Then what am I supposed to do?!” He snapped, keeping his voice quiet, though his irritation rang out. 

There was a moment of quiet between them before Shrubberthree answered. “Okay. I’ll experiment with some different plants, see if I can make anything to help you sleep which won’t interfere with your other drugs. But please, please try to look after yourself.” The words were heartfelt and a little strained. 

“Thank you.” Dogamy said, settling back into his chair, which creaked precariously. “…Wait, that the?”

“O-oh my!” Sans heard Shrubberthree gasp.

In front of him, Goldwell, who was mindlessly rambling about politics, stopped dead. His gaze catching something beyond Sans, who watched as the lizard’s expression shifted into something between terror and disgust. 

Turning quickly, the sight caught Sans equally by surprise. 

A huge pale creamy white form was led slowly down the pathway by four monsters Sans was unacquainted with. Dog-like in appearance, it struggled to hold its form, dripping and sliding as the creature walked on six shifting feet. One of Alphys’ experiments, from the labs basement. They’d managed to get them out; Sans wouldn’t admit aloud, but he was both surprised and impressed. 

Dogaressa stood waiting with Lesser Dog, who were quickly joined by Dogamy. Their faces matched those around them. As the four monsters escorted the goopy once dog, a crowd gathered in silence, people coming down to see the monstrosity being led through Snowdin. The creature wagged its tail, walking calmly, it looked about at the surroundings, as if recognising its location. 

Somehow seeing without eyes, the thing saw the three dogs waiting. It paused before wagging it’s tail so hard its whole body shook. With an excited gurgling whine, it galloped towards its former family. Lesser was the first to react, wagging his own tail equally hard, running up to meet the huge melting mess, drawing some recognition from it. 

“Aww, that’s sweet.” Sans commented, watching as the Dogi couple followed suit, running up to greet their now fused family members.

Goldwell scrunched his face, making a gagging noise. Clearly, he did not find the scene wholesome, as the large former dog wailed an odd sound. It covering the others in goo as they affectionately jumped around each other, embracing. 

“Ah, c’mon. It’s not everyday something like this happens, let them be _yappy._ ” Sans beamed, as his friends danced around each other, reunited at last.


	37. The broken web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of short scenes and perspective shifts in the one. Hopefully it's easy to follow!

The following morning, Sans awoke in a cold sweat. Taking in his surroundings, his feeling of dread slowly washing away. Papyrus’s room sat before him, the same as it always was, with the exception of a small pile of Sans discarded clothes beside his pillow, cluttering his brother’s otherwise pristine room. 

Oddly, the skeleton felt exhausted, like he’d been dragged around one of Undyne’s training circuits in his sleep. His head felt thick with what Sans recognised as depleted magic. Whatever he’d dreamt had been instantly lost on him. While it was rare, Sans had in the past summoned his magic in response to a nightmare. This didn’t look to be the case though. 

Sitting up, Sans became aware he was still in yesterday’s clothes. Something he hadn’t been able to get away with while staying in Papyrus’s room and under his closer scrutiny. His hoody smelt of burning. The ashy volcanic kind one would find in Hotland. How was that? 

Not the only concerning thing, Sans’ left shoulder ached badly, like the joint had been pulled out of place. It moved fine, but made him flinch unexpectantly. 

Rising from his mattress and heading to the nearest mirror; sure enough, there was a large bruise at the back of his left shoulder. “The hell?” He murmured.

 

Breakfast was the usual affair. Grillby cooked for them, as he insisted on doing each morning. It had become a pleasant routine. 

Undyne, who was slowly returning to her usual self, was back from her morning jog with Papyrus. The two excitedly talking about the cool action movie the group had watched the previous evening. 

“Who knew human warriors could move like that?!” Papyrus exclaimed at his usual loud volume, “I liked the bit where he jumped and did a flip over the baddy, then hit the other one out without even looking!” 

Undyne nodded with enthusiasm. “An’ the part where the guy with the big sword cut that dude’s arm off, and it hit his friend in the face and knocked him out! That was awesome!” She recounted around a mouthful of eggs. 

“Hey, Sans. What was your favourite bit?” Papyrus asked eagerly. 

But Sans had no memory of this film. He remembered eating dinner, but not much else. In fact, he couldn’t even remember going to bed. “Ah, all of it was pretty action-packed.” He bluffed. “Hey, did I maybe go anywhere last night?”

“YEAH!” Undyne suddenly shouted, making even Grillby jump in surprise. “Ya missed the end of the movie, punk!”

“Oh, right. Yeah, how could I forget?” Sans masked his worry with a grin. Papyrus eyed his suspiciously. “Guess I’m just tired.”

“I am not surprised.” Papyrus scolded, “You came back after I’d gone to sleep. I must say, I was quite relieved to see you’d made it back to bed when I awoke this morning.” 

Sans poured himself a second mug of coffee, now more than a little freaked out. 

 

Undyne pulled Sans aside as the group got ready for the day. “You ready for ya first day on my team?” She said, knocking against his side.

Oh, right, that was today. “Sure am. What’s the plan?”

“New Home, today. Talk to people, make a note of anything suspicious. Chat with any Guards hanging around. The point is that you’re posing as a civilian.” The Captain informed. 

“Nice, I’ll keep an eye socket on things.” Sans assured her.

 

Papyrus missed his human catching traps. They’d been such fun to dream up and put together. The ones he made with Sans were always the best. They had more structure, more puzzle, more challenge. With his brother’s help, they’d be electrified or have clever pressure panels and trigger points… Without them, being a Sentry wasn’t so fun. However, the time he’d once spent on the traps was now dedicated to the investigation. 

Their murder case was losing its charm… Well, it had lost its charm the moment Sans had be hauled off to jail; and what might befall them next had become an ever present worry, following Honey’s untimely death. 

After the shocking arrival of the ‘dog’ monster yesterday, the Dogi family had taken time off work to reacquaint with their lost family members. Sans had explained a little about the monster last night. Apparently, there were more like it being reintroduced into society, and to just be nice and give them time to readjust. Sans had backed out of any questions pertaining to the monster’s origin. Though one didn’t need an incredible power of deduction to figure they had come from the lab. Papyrus couldn’t think of why Alphys would be keeping things like that down there. 

Alphys… It would be stupid to say the skeleton missed her- everyone missed her dearly. Queen Toriel had made a heartfelt announcement some days previous, a week after the scientist’s dust had been discovered. The Queen had talked of her passion and quirky nature with a sorrowful smile.

Papyrus had been doing his best to encourage Undyne. She was doing well, pushing herself to train even more than usual. On their morning jogs, Papyrus could hardly keep up. While at home, both them and Grillby talked extensively about the case. The three hated to admit that Sans must still be involved, though it was difficult to say how and why. 

When asked about her time at work, Undyne talked about thinning down the Guard and their plans for the future. She had a new vision, one more involved with what Toriel wanted, rather than destroying humans or any other threats. She was reviewing every part of her force, making some surprising changes. Papyrus knew the Sentries were safe in their positions, their job of keeping the people of Snowdin safe was greatly important!

Returning to the point, Undyne was putting on a brave face. Alphys had been such a high-profile figure, whether she wanted to be or not, that everyone in the Underground knew the Captain was heartbroken by her death. Afterall, their relationship was no secret, Mettaton had made sure of that over the months. Not allowing herself to be looked down on like some fragile damsel, Undyne had thrown herself, harder than ever, into the action. It was working, Papyrus himself had heard others remark on how strong of a person she was. 

Really, it was little more than a distraction, something else to focus on. A more exciting day meant for a better night’s sleep, another thing Papyrus was sure she was struggling with. Undyne even pretended she was fine in front of Papyrus, for goodness knew what reason! Yet, he still knew how she wept after her housemates had retired to bed. 

In contrast, Sans was for the most part, his usual self. He’d gotten over the trauma of being locked up, with frightening speed and talked about Alphys like she wasn’t really gone. Papyrus wondered whether his brother was stuck in denial; he wondered whether Sans had cried even once over her loss. While he’d always been a tough one, emotionally, Papyrus couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Sans actually cry. 

The sound of his phone bleeping made the skeleton startle. Papyrus clumsily pulled it up and answered the message from Undyne.

He was needed in Hotland as soon as possible.

 

Papyrus ran as fast as he could, meeting Grillby along the way, who he told hurriedly to watch the town while he was gone. Grillby had just blinked slowly as Papyrus flew by. Luckily, he caught the Riverperson at their stop. Taking the fastest route, Hotland had come into view quickly around the cave rivers twists and bends. The massive multi-story building in Hotlands heart towered up to the cavern ceiling, all glass walls and thick metal beams. 

As soon as he entered, Papyrus knew something was amiss. Crowds gathered, talking with great interest while Guardsmen blocked the entrance to the basement level staircase and elevators. One shorter monster emerged from the crowd, the bear, Arcas. He greeted Papyrus with a few flashes of his sparkling fur, before grasping his hand and leading the skeleton down the stairs into the service level of the structure. It was only now that Papyrus noticed the walls swarming with spiders. 

Descending five small flights of stairs, more Guardsmen greeted the two monsters at the bottom. Papyrus loosened his scarf, there was a horrible dry heat down here. He supposed the ventilation system didn’t prioritise this floor. Papyrus felt a little sorry for those around him in full plate armour.

Lighting down here was also not the best. Red service lights gave the passageways an eerie glow. Two very tall figures loomed ahead in the limited lighting.

“I said calm down!” A deep booming voice called.

There was a loud hiss in response. Arcas pointed up to the front, not intending on proceeding any further, the bear looked unnerved. Papyrus nodded in thanks and continued through the crowd of visibly tense monsters. 

“Please, I’ve assured you we won’t move her. Five minutes, that’s all we need.” Said a voice the skeleton recognised.

“Undyne.” Papyrus called to her as he emerged, pushing past a few monsters blocking the corridor. As soon as he stepped into the space, he jumped back. Undyne stood beside Ore, the massive oxen monster, the leader of the Hotland Guard unit. Blocking their path were several enormous spiders, bigger than any Papyrus had seen before. Nearly as tall as him, they hissed threateningly, clicking their mandibles. 

Undyne looked flustered. “Papyrus!” She patted him on the shoulder, forcibly moving him mere feet from the arachnids. “Okay, we’re gonna come through now. Just the three of us.” She spoke firm but reassuring. 

There was an angry hiss in response, the spider’s purple eyes shone dangerously.

“Fine, just two of us.” The Captain conceded. 

After a moment of deliberation, the arachnids parted. Undyne wasted no time, she led the way, the sea of spiders, all shapes and sizes, parted around her. Papyrus stayed close at her heels, the writhing walls were lit red and claustrophobic. One of the giant spiders stayed at Papyrus’s back, while the others re-blocked the path they had left through. 

Probably feeling the skeleton’s nervousness through his magic; Undyne turned, giving him a reassuring smile, which Papyrus returned confidently. Through the long corridor, it was easy to tell their path, as the spiders squirmed ahead of them. 

They met a partly open door marked ‘Air conditioning. Main power.’ Arachnids poured in and out of it. Even outside, there was a buzzing in the air from residual magic energy. 

The room was lit with bright white lights, shining from a very tall ceiling. Thankfully, it was pleasantly cooler in here than the winding passageways of the maintenance level. Many vents lined the walls and there sat a massive cooling unit. It was much quieter than Papyrus would have expected. Otherwise, it was difficult to tell anything with so many spiders swarming. 

“Out! You don’t all need to be here!” Undyne shouted. 

The spiders stilled in their movements, only a few leaving.

A spear manifested in her hand. Slamming it into the floor, magic crackled through the air like electricity. “I SAID OUT!” Undyne roared. 

At that, all but a handful of braver spiders poured out through the ventilation system. Undyne dismissed her magic, she wiped the sweat from her face with the back of her hand. “C’mon, we got five minutes, record everything.” She said, a little exasperated.

Papyrus pressed his phone to record a video. He turned and gasped, in the far side of the room sat a pile of dust, spread about the floor. From that, he could put two and two together. “Is that...?

“Muffet.” Undyne confirmed. 

The first thing anyone could notice was the magic in the air. Two types, one was definitely Sans’, the other he could assume was Muffet’s. She must have put up quite the fight, as the prickling feeling of the energy clung to every surface. It was recent, too, undoubtably within the last eight hours. 

With the spiders gone, scorch marks could be seen marking the walls, melting them in places, as if they had been blasted with super heat. 

“Come see this.” Undyne called. Beside the dust, sat a few lose items. A tiny magic stone, a ribbon and a small blue glowing ball which. The ball was what Undyne was most interested in, she picked it up, turning it over in her hand. It looked like it was made of glass with a magical essence swirling within.

It was very pretty. “What is that?” Papyrus ask, inquisitive. 

The Captain held it up for him to see. “It’s a sending stone. Means she was communicating with someone. Someone who’s magic is this colour. Criminals use ‘um all the time. Great if ya want to set up a signal, but don’t want anyone to know what that signal means.” She pocketed the orb. 

Undyne leaned down, intending to get a sample of Muffet’s dust. A larger spider screeched from nearby, making her back off. 

There was nothing more they could do. The corridor couldn’t be investigated any further with all the ruckus and their time was fast approaching its limit. 

With nothing more to uncover in the bright open room, Papyrus and Undyne headed out. 

 

Sans hadn’t been to the Capital for a long time. Sure, he’d visited Toriel occasionally, but that was all. The atmosphere was busy but pleasant. The monster leaned his back to a wall, a few others joining him, though none interacted. Before them was a large screen on the street side. Mettaton was airing his own tribute to Alphys. A special programme, titled ‘Thank You and Goodbye’. A few of Alphys’ old friends were featured as guests, though none of them appeared to have interacted with her at all in the last few years. Sans recognised most, even a short spiky monster they’d worked alongside in the lab had joined. It was a different tone to the robot’s usual work. It was sombre and genuine. Mettaton put his all into the performances of a few of ‘Alphys’ favourites’ from Mettaton’s catalogue of songs. Sans could only take so much of it. He walked on after a short while. 

His phone pinged, showing a message from Undyne. _‘Incident in Hotland, might affect where you are.’_ It read. Sans couldn’t think of many incidents which could trail back all the way to the Capital. Unless all the elevators were broken. Again. 

Tall building of hodgepodge architecture greeted him as Sans wondered through the streets. Stone walls with small tablets with outdated laws carved upon them. It framed the opening of a shop, where in a molten monster blasted metal with fire magic, while a rock elemental beat another piece into shapes. Impressive metal sculptures were displayed around their work area. A bright neon strip of light led into another outlet, a bakery, bigger than that in Snowdin, selling cakes to flashing lights and disco music. 

An alleyway led between tall buildings down to shabby apartments. Despite all of its charm and amenities, New Home had never been one for fancy housing, unless you were mega rich. There was a large divide. Buildings carried on up to the cavern roof; the same tiny rooms he and Papyrus once lived in. Some were nearly crumbling with age, with no windows and box rooms. Others were painted with cheerful patterns, sporting plant boxes hanging from windows. An odd mismatching collection, just like everything in New Home.

Looking up, a winged monster flitter overhead, selling bunches of flowers to passers-by. Sans was treated with the rare sight of a fellow skeleton wondering by. Catching each other’s eye, the two nodded politely in passing. Along the road, a towering centipede stood on the street corner gave haircuts to five different monsters simultaneously.

Sans had stopped to chat with a few people. One had even recognised him from when he used to partake in the comedy evenings at Mettaton’s resort. That had been a long long time ago. Even Sans himself had nearly forgotten about that hobby.  
With everyone hurrying about, it was difficult to find someone wanting to talk. The monsters here were closed off, there was no community, not in the same way as Snowdin. 

He completely understood why many found this place overwhelming. Doggo used to flat-out refuse to step foot anywhere beyond Hotland, for his distaste of this place. Sans, though much more laid back, could see where the old dog was coming from. After so long in less compact places, the noise and the feeling of so many magical fields made the Capital difficult to enjoy.

Though he was yet to find any Guardsmen to annoy, Sans however found an interesting old shop. ‘The Gem Emporium’ was large, regal and very impressive. The skeleton had visited before, some years back, for the stones he had used in the Judgment Hall, discretely fitted into the walls and around the doorframes. In the window sat a large amethyst looking rock, as big as the skeleton himself. It was surrounded by a small water feature, further showing off the impressive stone. 

Wondering inside, refined shining rocks hung from the ceiling, reflecting colours prettily around the room. Crystals listed under types and uses. Some for cooking, some for warmth, a batch for powering electrical items, others for detecting intruders. Some dense, looking like normal stones, some as large as slabs and others the size of a fingernail. 

The skeleton wondered up to the shop keeper. Shorter than Sans, a fluffy monster who resembled a wombat, with long straight hair, covering his eyes. He had a huge nose and thick dark brown overalls which looked to be covered by a second pair of grey ones. 

“Can I help you?” The monster asked, in a polite aged voice.

It was then that Sans noticed a poster behind the counter. It was red and white, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the softer browns and earthy colours of the shop. It displayed a date, around five months ago. About two weeks after Sans had last seen the human. Below the date, the poster read- ‘Recent theft. If you have any information, please speak to a member of the Guard.’ 

“Jus’ looking.” Sans replied. He motioned to the sigh behind the counter, “You had a break in or something?” He asked.

The shopkeeper turned, eyeing what Sans was referring to before recollection appeared on his face. “Ah, yes! The crafty fellow snuck in at night and stole some of our crystals. A few heat stones and some rather expensive energy storing ones.” He informed, turning fully back to the poster. “I can take it down now, the blighter was caught over a month ago. I’d stopped noticing it, it being up so long; maybe that’s just my age.” The monster chortled, pulling down the poster. 

Sans vaguely recalled hearing about the crime. He’d probably caught it on the news. “I guess they _took_ too many chances. Who was it?”

“Hah! I get that! Ah, some cat looking guy. Nervous as anything, was shaking like a leaf the whole trial. Denied the whole thing, says he can’t remember doing any of it. Can you believe that?! Anyway, he was stuck in holding for a while, locked up good and proper now though.” He explained.

Frowning to himself, Sans contemplated the information. The cat in the cell beside his, the one who started ominously speaking one night after a week of silence. The guy didn’t remember his crime? Heh, that sounded familiar. “Jail time for a single theft seems a little extensive, don’t ya think? They’re usually a little more lenient, right?” Sans asked.

They responded with a half laugh, “It’s the nature of the goods they stole. The energy storing stones can be very volatile, we don’t just sell them to anyone. Could have been supplying them for a gang or who knows what.” He pointed to a locked glass cabinet on the wall, displaying a collection of pocket-size stones. It was sealed tight with lead framing, to stop any residual magic from getting in. “Don’t want a criminal getting’ their hands on them.”

“Oh.” Sans mumbled, mostly in thought. Could the cat really have been innocent? “I got a question for ya. So, these stones… I’ve heard about it before, but could I store magic and trigger it later, to come out of the stone, right?” He’d used gemstones occasionally in his lab work, though it had been both an uncommon occurrence and a long time ago.

“Indeed.” The monster replied, an excitement in his voice at talking about the subject of his study. “Fill it to the brim with volatile energy and it’ll only take the slightest of movements to set it off. POW!” He threw his stubby arms out wide. 

“What kind of stones have that power?” Sans questioned. The household had been recently discussing this type of thing over mealtimes, it would be nice to finally contribute to the conversation. Unless they could benefit him directly, Sans had never bothered with the study of these stones, they were pretty interesting. 

“Well let me see…” The shopkeeper stoked the fur along his snout. “Lizard’s Teeth, they’re only this big.” He raised his fingers to show half an inch. “Lilly Drops, very pretty. Firecrackers; a friend ‘o mine had an arm blown off by one of them! Yellow Shocks, Amber Eyes and their counterpart, Marsh Pebbles. Let’s not forget Dragon’s-.”

Sans held up a hand to stop him. “Amber Eyes?” He repeated back, hearing that name before.

“Ah, yes! Tricky to work with, as they’re not compatible with much, but they’ll hold a lot before they become unstable. Don’t want to be near them if they are! We have to harvest them naturally, as they only grow in Waterfall’s depths, in the swampy areas. Not a nice place, I don’t suppose you’ve been. Lots of uncivilised folk down there, big ambush predators.” Again, he gestured with his hands. “Small to medium size, usually an inch and a half, oval, perfectly clear, lovely orange into brown colour. Most desirable thing about them- they never break after use! Just expend their energy and return to normal, no damage, no trace of residual energy. They fetch a high price. I don’t have any in stock to show you.” He beamed, speaking quickly but clearly.

Those had been the stones he and Alphys had collected in Waterfall. Sans had been given one as thanks, he didn’t need to be shown one to remember what they had looked like. It was only now that Sans realised he hadn’t seen it in months. “So, they’d be perfect for criminal use.” He said darkly, coming to a quick conclusion. 

The wombat shrunk away. “W-well, I would certainly hope not!” 

“S’ok. I’m helping the Guard with something, that’s all. You’ve actually helped a lot, thanks.” Sans tipped the shopkeeper a few gold for his assistance before leaving quickly. 

Though he wasn’t quite done with his shift, the skeleton had a problem on his mind. He didn’t wait around before taking a shortcut back home. 

 

It wasn’t long until Sans heard the front door opening and closing behind someone. “Papyrus? That you?” Sans shouted downstairs, a little out of breath as he scampered around his room trying to find the Amber Eye.

Sure enough, the taller skeleton poked his head around Sans’ door. His eyes went wide at the sight of the room. “W-what have you done?!” There was mess everywhere. Anything stored away had been pulled out of draws and chaotically thrown around the room. It looked like a tornado had whipped through. “All of my hard work… What will Grillby say?” Papyrus mumbled, forlorn. 

“I’ll clear up later.” Sans said offhandedly, not caring at all right now about the mess. “Have you seen a stone? Orange colour, oval, this big?” Sans gestured quickly. “Have you moved it?” He frantically questioned. 

“No. Not at all.” Papyrus frowned in thought. He shook his head in final confirmation. “Nope.” 

“O-okay.” He felt a little ridiculous, reopening an empty draw he’d already looked through three times. 

“Are you okay, brother? You seem rather more flustered than usual.” 

“Yes, I am!” Sans answered a little harshly, not enjoying being called out on his antics. He stood back, taking in the mess. Nervously biting his finger, the skeleton went for his next idea. “Let’s look through your crime scene photos and stuff, see if there’s anything like it there.” 

Papyrus was giving him an increasingly odd look. “Sans, there’s something I really need to talk to you about.”

“It can wait, please, I’ve gotta know.” He shot back pleadingly. 

It was in the first video that Papyrus played that Sans’ attention was caught. In Ignis’s house, beside the burnt-up desk in the centre of his study. Papyrus had documented the exact stone on the old monster’s floor. Perfectly undamaged after the explosion. He’d glanced over this recording before and not noticed it. Sans tried not to react as he pointed it out. He was sure Papyrus saw through him and was quickly piecing together Sans’ situation. That was made apparent by the lack of questions. Papyrus didn’t even ask why Sans was interested, or what was special about the little stone. He just watched Sans closely.

“Sans, there was an incident today. We… we need to talk about it.” Papyrus gently pressured. 

Relenting, Sans nodded. 

“Um… You know of the spiders and Muffet, correct?” There was trepidation in Papyrus’s voice.

“Yes…” Sans replied slowly, anticipation heavy in the air. 

“Her dust was found this morning. Someone killed her last night.” Sans’ reaction was watched closely as Papyrus spoke.

If colour could have drained from Sans’ face, it would have. “O-oh.” He sucked in a breath. “Where w-was she found?” The words didn’t want to be said.

“The Hotland tower. An air ventilation room, on the basement level.” Papyrus answered, calm but a little wary.

He all but froze. The moment seemed to pass unending until Papyrus gave his brother a look of worry.  
“Sans?”

Papyrus stumbled as Sans pushed past him, hurrying out of the room and into Papyrus’s bedroom. The door was slammed as Sans brought out his soul, checking his stats. With horror, he saw he’d gained another level of violence. He had reached LV fourteen. A nauseating feeling overcame his soul, which was dismissed instantly, the sight of the lifeforce was sickening.

One more thing to check. Foolishly, Sans had left the sending stone in his dirty laundry pile this morning. The discarded clothes still smelled of burning as Sans pulled out the stone. 

Everything stopped around him. It was blue.

Sans was vaguely aware of Papyrus pushing open the door and moving to stand over him. 

“I-.” Sans’ voice jumped. “I need to talk to you.” 

“Yes, I think you might.” Papyrus sounded softer than Sans expected. 

He knew. That was all the confirmation needed. Sans couldn’t look at him. He stared hard at the magic stone which had lured his ally to her doom.

Sans felt the mattress dip beside him and an arm around his shoulder. “You don’t remember, do you?” Papyrus asked quietly. 

Shoulders slumping, Sans could only shake his head. 

 

By the time Undyne returned with Grillby in tow, Papyrus had already prepared a pot of tea for them, with mugs delicately placed around the table. He watched Sans where he sat on the sofa. The smaller of the brothers had been staring hard at the floor for some time now. His magic wrapped tightly around himself, ready for confrontation. 

Papyrus sent a half smile to Undyne as she entered, one she returned to him in an even lesser degree. Her visage one of stress and exhaustion. She must have explained the situation to Grillby, who poured himself a drink silently and took the seat beside Sans. Neither really reacted. 

The normally rowdy house was quiet and tense. 

Papyrus took a seat on the floor, his knee jumping restlessly. 

“So.” Undyne began. She pulled Muffet’s sending stone from a pocket and banged it onto the table, where it as left to sit. The loud sound making everyone beside her flinch. “I guess since we’re all sitting comfortably, everyone is up to date?” Her tone serious, though she was quite calm, something frightfully brutal lurked just below the surface.

“Quite.” Papyrus answered, unsure he was ready for what his brother would say. He was still surprised Sans hadn’t scurried off to hide yet, though it was clear to everyone that Sans had hit a wall. Whatever _this_ was, he couldn’t run from it any longer. 

Undyne paced the room, a commanding energy rolling from her. She opened her mouth to begin but was silenced by Sans unexpectedly speaking up first. 

“I think… I think it might’ve been me this whole time.” He said, eyes still to the floor. 

Unprepared for something so blunt and genuine, Undyne closed her mouth, reassessing the situation. 

Papyrus took up the lead, “When you say ‘whole time’, what do you mean?” 

Sans’ eyes shot up to him in a flash. “Do I even need to explain? Really?” 

There was a visceral frustration in his voice, one Papyrus wasn’t well acquainted with. There was a look of fear or desperation in his eyes, maybe both.   
Papyrus felt Grillby reach out with his calming aura, hoping to relax the pressure in the air. Sans dug his fingers roughly into his knees regardless.

Realising they were waiting for him to elaborate, Sans took in a deep breath and began. “One, Ms Truffles- I fall asleep outside like a moron and wake up in bed in the morning with no memory of getting there. Find out she’s dead.   
Ignis- I leave the party, break into his house, fill a gemstone with magic until it’s unstable and leave it somewhere like his desk. It explodes when he finds it.   
Three, Grillby’s- I wake up after being passed out to be told I’ve been gone from my cell. Evidence says I was there and I, unfortunately, know I could have been.   
And now Muffet.” Sans pulled his matching sending stone from his pocket. Undyne eyed it closely. “I guess I called her to a location only the two of us knew to meet at, and I killed her. Shoulder hurts, so she must have defended herself, at least…” Sans put on a conclusive tone. “That’s what the hard evidence says happened, on all of these. Firstly, I know I could have killed them. Secondly, _I don’t remember any of it.”_ He finished, eyes finding their way back to staring at the floor. 

Wait, Papyrus had so many questions. Sure, Sans was stating most of what they already knew, but hearing it from him made it feel totally different. Sans was correct, hard evidence proved that, however it didn’t make sense to Papyrus. How did Sans travel those distances in such a short time? How did he manage to get out of prison? How was his magic able to cause the damage they’d witnessed? “How much of last night do you remember?” Was the first thing to come out of his mouth.

“I barely remember dinner. I sure as hell don’t remember watching a movie, let alone going out. Then I woke up in bed.” Sans laughed without humour, as if in disbelief himself. 

“You were the one who called the spiders to Snowdin? I knew someone had, but I didn’t expect you.” Undyne said slowly. 

Shrugging, Sans replied, “I knew there was nothing I could do, especially sitting in a jail cell. I asked for their help.” 

“Sans! You should know better than to meddle with the spiders!” Papyrus’s voice rose as he put the situation into perspective. “We- we don’t owe them money, do we?” He demanded to know, a shiver running down his spine. What on earth had his brother been thinking?! 

Sans glanced his way, his eye lights dull. “Nah, paid them off. Always had a good rapport with ‘um, so we’re in the clear.” It was said lazily. Way too casual, like it was the least of his worries. 

In the corner, Undyne slapped a hand to her face. Papyrus empathised much more with her than his brother right now. 

Papyrus wasn’t yet done. “How did you get to those places?” 

“I…” Sans hesitated, clearly not wanting to answer this one. “Some of my magic is a little unnatural; enhanced. If I really wanted to get somewhere quickly, I could.” 

This sparked a memory. The video tape Papyrus had pulled from his brother’s shelf. “So you _can_ teleport?” He asked, eyes wide. Strangely, considering the circumstances, Papyrus was quite impressed. The experiment his brother had been trying had indeed worked. 

Sans’ head snapped up at that. He appeared lost for words. 

“I must say, you’ve hidden that well.” Papyrus half complimented though his tone was soured. He didn’t understand the extents of this magic enhancement, it however unnerved him. Also, Papyrus was fairly positive it was pointless drilling Sans any further on the point. If he didn’t want to discuss it, he’d close off and start lying again. Undyne didn’t have any qualms with his story thus far and Papyrus would trust that. “So you managed to use that to break out of prison to make a deal with the spiders?” The implications of that were frightening and Papyrus willingly displayed his horror at this. “Sans, why would you do that?!” 

“BECAUSE I WANTED TO KEEP YOU SAFE!” Sans suddenly shouted. The sound shook Papyrus, catching him off guard. 

Undyne cleared her throat, “Pap. Let’s just believe that his magic could have done this.” She encouraged quite calmly. A notable difference to her usually intensity.

He wanted to question her back, because how exactly could Sans’ magic obliterate people into dust in an explosive blast? Skeletons couldn’t do that, not at all! Reluctantly, he gave a nod. 

Papyrus watched Sans give her a tiny grateful smile.

Reigning in his emotion, Papyrus asked, “What about your level? Surely you would notice that increase?” 

Sans shrugged, “Not for a while. I noticed earlier. My level’s gone up.” 

This confused Papyrus a little, he’d always been told that when one first gained Execution Points, the feeling within their soul changed forever. Like a feeling you couldn’t shake off. The more you gained, the larger the shadow over you felt. It was odd to hear that Sans had apparently not experienced this. The knowledge that his brother’s soul was permanently marred by such a horrific thing gave him pause. Most of his frustration melted away, if Sans was truly unaware of his crimes, awakening with that stain over his already fragile soul would have been unbearable. “Is that why you wouldn’t show me your soul before?” Papyrus asked, without anger.

After a little hesitation, Sans nodded. His eyes were back to the ground and Papyrus was sure his brother’s knees would bruise if his didn’t let up the pressure he put on them. 

The room was quiet, waiting for anyone else to speak up. Papyrus made eye contact with Undyne and Grillby. A silent decision seemed to be made.

A small voice drew their attention back. “Please. Please d-don’t send me back there.” Sans whispered. Quiet panic in his words.

“We won’t.” Undyne said with confidence. “I believe you.” She looked at both Papyrus and Grillby. The elemental gave a nod of agreement.

Papyrus followed. He knew deep down that however the evidence looked, Sans wasn’t responsible. 

“Good, then we’re all on the same page.” Undyne smiled.   
Sans looked up finally, an expression of shock on his face, like his friends had been about to cart him right back to prison for a more permanent stay. “Clearly, something really messed up has been happening. There are enough monsters around with mind controlling abilities, it’s not a stretch of the imagination that you’ve been selected as their lacky to do their bidding. Their first mistake was repeatedly choosing someone who’s buddies with us. Their second was not getting to know you well enough first, because they didn’t know you’re ties to the Professor, neither did they know you would be the last person in the Underground to target Muffet right now.” 

Grillby gave Sans’ arm a reassuring pat. Undyne grinned widely at him. Sans still looked startled. 

“HAH!” The Captain bellowed, “Ya though we were gonna throw you into the pits then!” She broke the quieter atmosphere with sharp laughter.

Papyrus jumped up, pulling Sans into a hug. “Undyne is right, messing with us will be their last mistake!” He encouraged. “I promise you Sans, we won’t let them get away with this!” 

“Thank you.” Sans mumbled, still overwhelmed. 

How could Papyrus have ever truly believed his brother was responsible?

 

Later that night, Papyrus lay awake, in his darkened room. The sound of shifting blankets distracted him as Sans wriggled around, unable to sleep. 

Knowing the answer already, Papyrus whispered, “Are you awake?” At a volume which was really too loud to be a whisper. 

“Yeah.” Sans sighed in response, sounding annoyed by his inability to rest. “What’s up?”

“The ceiling.” Papyrus answered. 

“Heh, nice one.” 

“I’m really proud of what you did today, Sans.” Papyrus said, returning to the point.

There was almost a worried pause, “What do ya mean, bro?” His voice carrying a nervous undertone.

Papyrus had to smile at his brother’s nature to second guess everything. “You were really brave, telling us what had happened even though you feared the worst. I think that was very noble of you.” 

Sans sat up on his elbows, a puzzled look on his face through the darkness. “You think? I just had to, I… I’m sorry I’ve lied so much about all this.”

“That is okay. Without remembering, I imagine it was all quite confusing. You’ve had to do as much investigating as me, that way. Just remember, you can talk to us about, you know?... Things.”

Sans half shrugged, “Not much to tell with me, I’m pretty boring.” 

“You know what I mean.” Papyrus smiled supportively. He didn’t miss Sans’ look of apprehension at that. “But that’s okay, whenever you are ready.” 

“W-well, thanks bro. Nice to know I’ve done something good for once.” It was said surprisingly jovially, despite how the wording made Papyrus frown.

Fluffing his pillows, Papyrus settled back down. “Contrary to your belief, I am very proud of you all the time. Even though I don’t say it very much.”

“Really? I can’t think why.” Sans laughed.

“Would you like me to list the many many reasons?” Papyrus replied in a mock threatening tone.

Sans shifted, settling back down also. “Nah, don’t worry. Besides, you’re the coolest, no bones about it.” He said with a grin.

“Now if you’re so good at getting places quickly, go to sleep. I can’t when you keep shifting around!” Papyrus laughed.

“Heh, I’ll try.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”


	38. Bound together

Life continued on for about a week. While the realisation and subsequent confession of his crimes had been jarring and not at all pleasant, Sans was attempting to make each day feel as normal as possible. This was going well, thanks to his friends. Initially, Sans had been worried that the others would suddenly view him like some sort of cursed object; not wanting him around. Afterall, his finally reclaimed position as Judge was on the line, as well as potentially being thrown back into the jails. Of course, he’d been very wrong. 

Papyrus had been, well… Papyrus. Though Undyne kept a close eye on Sans, she had been nothing but supportive. She’d even spent a day taking the skeleton to each area of the Underground, introducing him as a ‘Member of the Court’ to the monsters. A good half of the Guardsmen already knew Sans, and found it highly unbelievably that he would be elected to do anything by the Queen. 

The situation at home hadn’t changed much. It was difficult to get time to oneself with everyone stepping on each other’s toes and cramming themselves on the sofa in the evening. Grillby stayed in his room a lot and opted to mostly work alone. Otherwise, he seemed very comfortable with their living arrangements. The elemental helped Papyrus cook and clean, something the skeleton was forever grateful for. Sans had noticed that Grillby and Undyne operated well together, despite their personalities contrasting at opposite ends of a spectrum. Undyne often chose Grillby to confide in, rather than the brothers, from what had been observed.  
Even for Sans, it was difficult to tell what his friend was feeling about his current living situation, Grillby didn’t seem to be rushing to get out of the others’ way though.

Papyrus was stressed, by both his work load and the busy house. In spite of enjoying the extra company, it was a little overwhelming for him. Still, he pushed through, his positive attitude as strong as ever. Though Papyrus had acted surprised by Sans’ confession, Sans knew it hadn’t been a shock to anyone, really. Whether they wanted to hear it or not, the little information Muffet had managed to gather had been imparted onto the others. 

Speaking of spiders… They had completely cleared from Snowdin. He’d heard Muffet’s empire had gone into disarray and was quickly crumbling from the inside. Probably for the best. Sans had half expected some backlash to come knocking on his door, thankfully, he had been left out of the picture. Either the spiders didn’t know it was him, or they concluded, like the others, that he was being used as a puppet by the real culprit. 

As for Undyne, she had announced a few days previous that she’d be moving back to her own house today. Her surprisingly small overnight bag was packed and ready to go. Out of everyone, she was at home the least, always keeping herself busy with something.  
As weird as it was to admit, Sans was going to miss not seeing her as much. He never thought the two of them would get to a place of sharing jokes and pranks across the dinner table, in a way which didn’t carry actual threats of violence. Honestly, Sans and Undyne had a lot of fun. They could throw their magic playfully at each other and generally act as fools. Sans wished she would make up her mind regarding the Sentries and their place with the Guard. The group were not needed and were an obvious drain on resources. Contradictory to that statement, they’d just hired Grillby, so Toriel clearly wasn’t pressuring the warrior to disband the group, maybe even the opposite. 

He also wished she would be a little more honest with Papyrus. Sans had witnessed one of their training sessions yesterday, Undyne opting to exchange cooking for actual combat training. Snowdin’s weather was cooling once more, the slippery mud freezing back up into a walkable surface- a perfect time to train in weird fancy battle stuff.  
Sans didn’t understand what Undyne had been talking about with her in-depth explanations of situations, gymnastics and creative magic use. Papyrus appeared to though. Sans’ extensive knowledge of combat could be summed up with ‘Don’t get hit and don’t be afraid to cheat.’ It was the first time in a long time he’d seen Papyrus practicing anything combat related; Sans had to admit, his brother could be very impressive. 

It made Sans think back to when they were young. He would take Papyrus out of the Capital to practice his magic. Sans taught him how to summon attacks and how to heal with magic. Not the best teacher, considering his own magic back then had been typically unresponsive most of the time, he thought he’d done a decent job at teaching his brother how to defend himself.  
Sans paled in comparison to Undyne, with her enthusiasm and fancy flips. Papyrus was fast and precise. He wielded a magic weapon to fight with in close combat, his movements held meaning and his takedowns were well executed. Sans couldn’t really do any of that. He relied on unnatural magic, mild trickery and luck. 

Upon pulling off a very successful set of moves, Papyrus had exclaimed something about how useful it would be to have someone of his skill in the Royal Guard. Undyne had tactfully avoided his question, calling their training to a closure. She had met Sans’ eye with a guilty look. He only shrugged in response. There was no point trying to convince her otherwise. Her decision on the subject was made. Sans had long come to terms that the only way his brother would actually achieve his dream, would be if something drastically shook up the Underground, affecting how the Guard ran; or, Undyne was gone. 

 

“I saw it happen twice today!” Papyrus exclaimed, as their group chatted about the odd instances of people being ‘possessed’ by the mysterious ‘Him’.  
Undyne nodded. “Oh yeah, I was called out earlier when someone collapsed at their Guard station. Fine by the time I got there, apparently they were sayin’ some weird stuff.” 

The instances had become more and more frequent. It had even been on the news. Medical professionals had been calling these episodes some kind of seizure, and had begun documenting cases. There appeared too many to be kept track of, and thanks to the memory loss which usually came with it, the exact number was impossible to even guess. Some people just blanked out for a few moments and were easily snapped out of it. While others were having attacks intense enough to put them in hospital.  
There were whispers of some monsters disappearing altogether. 

Papyrus folded his arms. “I still think we need to find out who it is. Clearly someone is trying to call for help through other people. The way he talks, it’s like he’s trapped somewhere. What do you think, Sans?”

The skeleton looked up from the newspaper, a picture of one of the amalgamates splashed across the cover. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s building up to something, I dunno what.” Whatever it was concerned him greatly. “It’s like purple magic, isn’t it? That affects the mind.”

‘And what has been controlling you is not the same?’ Grillby asked jutting his head around the corner from the kitchen. 

They’d been through this several times now. Sans rolled his eyes. “No. I’ve had purple used on me a few times; it feels different.”

Undyne boisterously laughed, “Seriously, who did that?” She was collecting her last few things before moving back to her own house. 

“… I can’t actually remember.” Sans laughed back, “It was in the lab though, I know that. Weird stuff used to happen there all the time.”

Papyrus looked slightly worried. “I’m not even going to ask.” He straightened up, folding his arms. “There’s still a way for us to know, which you’ve all either overlooked or have conveniently forgotten: Alphys knew what was going on. I think she figured the mystery out.”

Everyone’s eyes darted elsewhere in the room. Alphys was still an understandably sore subject. Even saying her name seemed like a taboo while they were at home.

“Yes, that’s right.” Papyrus continued boldly. “I think it may be worth going to the lab and trying to piece together what exactly she discovered.”

“I’m not going.” Undyne turned quickly, her voice hard and forced. She busied herself, moving swiftly to the kitchen.

Nodding respectfully, Papyrus remained firm. “Understandable. I don’t wish to cause upset. Sans?”

A discomfort formed around him as Papyrus laid his unwavering stare on Sans. “Bro, you know whatever she found drove her mad, right?”

“Yes, and I wish to learn why.” He replied defiantly. “I’d like you to take me to the lab tomorrow.”

Seeing no way of arguing, Sans conceded with a nod. “Sure, whatever you want.”

Conversation on the subject died down after that. Undyne emerged from the kitchen having washed up their dinner plates. She’d only broken one thing today, thanks to her extreme drying techniques. “Hey, before I go…” She grabbed a bag, rummaging around. “You’re gonna hate me for this, Sans, but I got ya this. Since I won’t be around to keep an eye on ya.” From her bag she pulled a familiar dull metal object.

“Are you kidding?!” Sans groaned in protest as Undyne held up a magic suppressor. 

“Sorry… Last thing I want is you toasting Papyrus while I’m not here.” Undyne looked genuinely hurt at having to enforce the restriction. 

Sans softened at that. He watched Undyne explain to both Papyrus and Grillby how exactly the contraption worked and how to lock and release it with their magic. Reluctantly, the skeleton held his hand out, the area of bone which had been scraped away hadn’t long healed. It was still lumpy and missing a layer or so of bone. Still, Undyne was right. It was better safe than sorry. It was bad enough knowing he’d caused Grillby’s current situation, Sans wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he actually killed one of those closest to him. 

Bracing himself, Sans winced as the cuff was tightened. It was fastened loosely; he’d expected something more uncomfortable. His magic ebbed away almost gently, quite willingly. It was unlike his previous experience with these things.

Testing it, Sans tried to take a shortcut. He was met with… nothing. 

Undyne smirked, watching him. “This one won’t zap ya.” 

“Huh, that’s _shockingly_ good to know.” Maybe the first on had been faulty in some way. 

Exchanging hugs with everyone, Undyne headed for the door. “Thanks again guys, seeya tomorrow!” 

“Tomorrow?” Sans rose his voice in joke annoyance, “I thought you were leaving?”

“Can’t get rid of me for long!” Undyne shot finger guns towards Sans, “Seeya, punks!” With that she took off racing down the street.

‘Now that the sofa is free, would you prefer me to sleep there, instead of your room, Sans?’ Grillby asked, he appeared to be polishing every glass in the skeletons’ kitchen.

“Oh, yea-.” Sans was cut off.

“Not at all, you stay in there as long as you like!” Papyrus interrupted loudly. He clasped Sans on the shoulder, “Sans is fine in my room. It’s like a sleepover every night!” 

Inwardly the skeleton sighed. “Sure is, bro.” Eh, he was fine with their current arrangements. Sans had gotten used to waking up in the night to find Papyrus curled around him like a large cat, that had become routine over the last while. Sans didn’t mind, his dreams had been less vicious of late and he suspected the closeness to his brother was the reason. 

 

Grillby blinked in confusion as a large bag of gold clattered onto the bed beside him. He looked up as Sans watched him from the doorway. 

“What are ya doing?” Sans asked, eyeing a ball of woollen thread in Grillby’s hands.

‘What is this?’ Grillby asked in return, poking the bag. 

“What’ya think? It’s my tab, or most of it, I think.” Sans smiled.

The elemental looked between the gold and the skeleton, who moved to lean against the bedpost with mild amusement on his face. ‘I shouldn’t accept this.’ 

Sans nearly choked on air. “Why on earth not?” 

‘I’m living in your home. I haven’t contributed anything to my stay.’ 

Sans laughed loudly at that, “You don’t have to. Papyrus loves you, you make breakfast and you both have obsessive cleaning habits. Having you stay has been really fun, actually.” Sans admitted. Seeing his friend’s further reluctance Sans added, “Plus, think of all those times I was a nuisance and stopped you from sleeping until three in the morning.” 

Grillby contemplated the skeleton’s words before coming to a decision. He moved the bag of gold onto a table beside his bed… Sans couldn’t remember having a table there before. Oh well. 

‘Thank you, Sans.’ His words were warm and well meant. 

“Yeah whatever. Hey, are you knitting?” He grinned back. 

The flame monster’s eyes lowered. In his lap sat a ball of pale-yellow wool, two mismatching knitting needles and the starts of whatever item of clothing he was working on. It was wobbly and uneven in places, definitely a first attempt. ‘I’m making a scarf. I wanted it to have patterns but I think that’ll be too tricky for my first one.’

“Looks good. I can’t _stitch_ you up with any advice. I can sew, but knitting is way out of _yarn_ for me.” Sans winked. 

‘That second one wasn’t as good.’ Grillby commented on his friend’s humour.

“Nah, I know…” 

The two stood in a comfortable silence, or at least comfortable for Sans. When Grillby spoke up again, it made the skeleton question how his friend really felt.  
‘So…’ He began with something akin to trepidation, ‘Are we going to talk about us?’

“Us?” Sans repeated slowly, not really wanting to talk about this.

Grillby gave a single nod. ‘I expressed my feeling towards you. I worry it may have upset you.’ 

Sans didn’t need it explained to him, he remembered clearly. “O-oh you didn’t upset me, really.” He reassured anxiously. “I’m a difficult guy to _burn_. It was a bit of a shock, that’s all.”

‘I apologise for that then.’

“No, no, don’t.” Sans waved his arms about. “I should be apologising for the whole ‘fake dating’ thing. That was kind of _empty headed_ of me, heh.” He said, trying to keep the mood light.

Folding up his knitting project, Grillby placed it at his side. ‘Do not worry. I should have stepped away from that some time ago, in hindsight. It should have made me see that we did not carry the same feelings.’ He said matter of factly.

“Ah, c’mon, Grillbz.” Sans gave an encouraging smile, as if his friend had given a more emotional response. “I like you a lot, really do. A-and I would, ya know? Date you… but, well, uh.” He found himself at a loss for words. Eyes trailing away somewhere else in the room. “How do I say this?... You’re really hot, but I don’t wanna burn myself.”

That was the wrong thing to say, Sans knew instantly. Grillby stared right into him in a way which made the skeleton want to duck behind the bedpost to get out of his line of sight. Sans knew he should have lied with a quick, ‘sorry, you’re not my type.’ He had to go and overcomplicate things.

‘May I ask of the source of your reservations?’ Grillby questioned in a way that Sans knew he couldn’t escape from. 

“W-well…” He didn’t really know where to go from there. The awkwardness of this was beginning to claw at his bones, keeping him rooted to the spot while simultaneously making him want to run. “It’s not you, it’s me.” Isn’t that what people said when they broke up?

‘How so?’

Sans stilled, defensively slipping his hands into his hoody pockets. “Jus’ me. You know. I don’t really want to talk about it.” He grumbled, just wanting to leave now.  
Grillby folded his hands in his lap like an impatient school teacher; yet his tone remained ever the same- something which irritated Sans more than anything right now. ‘We’ve been friends for years and right now I’m living in your house. Sans, I believe it is quite important we talk about-.’

“I really like you, okay?!” Sans interrupted. His face shifting into a scowl. “I just never thought about it, is all; I _can’t_ think about it- I _can’t_ get attached!” His voice rose angrily. 

Grillby’s disposition didn’t change, he hardly reacted at all. ‘Because they might Reset?’ 

“Because they _will!_ ” He insisted. Sans knew he was acting like a cornered animal, but he didn’t care. “I can’t commit to something I can’t keep, if I lost that- lost you, I’d…”

The elemental shifted in his seat. ‘We’ve talked about this. The chance of that happening is-.’

“The chance is just as high as it always was,- especially if we _do_ have another human running around!” He gripped hard onto the inside of his pockets, enough that the seams threatened to rip. “Besides, I don’t deserve affection; not after everything I’ve done.” Sans said bitterly.

‘Sans, everyone knows you aren’t responsible for those people.’

_“I’m not talking about them!”_ Sans hissed in retaliation. 

Grillby said nothing, he patiently watched, waiting for Sans to finish his outburst. 

Stepping backwards to the doorway, Sans’ breath shuddered, “Look, I just can’t. Not right now. I’m sorry, it’s not you, it’s never been you. I-… I’m sorry.”

‘Sans, please-.’ Grillby tried to call, but he’d already left. 

Stomping to Papyrus’s room, Sans tried to take a shortcut, wanting to be anywhere but here. His magic tingled like meaningless static but did nothing more. The damn suppressor! In an action that seemed very familiar, the skeleton slammed Papyrus’s door behind him. Thankfully, Grillby didn’t follow. Sans wasn’t usually one to lose his temper and he knew he was being a coward. Hopefully it would give Grillby enough incentive to leave the questions out. Or better still, leave the topic alone completely. 

 

“Dang, Papyrus, that looks epic!” Undyne yelled. 

“Ta-daa!” The skeleton took a deep bow, waving a hand in a presenting fashion in front of a pot of chilli. Thanks to Undyne not really being home for a while, they were lacking ingredients for their usual dishes. Quickly thinking of a plan, the pair had thrown together a quick dish made from leftovers. Today’s hangout and training had gone wonderfully well; only one thing had caught fire. 

“C’mon, we gotta try it!” Exclaimed Undyne, grabbing a plate each. 

The food was rather good! Undyne agreed, diving back into the pot for seconds. Papyrus wrapped up what remained for Sans and Grillby to reheat later.

“You think Sans will like this?” Papyrus asked.

Undyne nodded, “Well, he likes your spaghetti, right? Sure he’ll love this.”

Thinking about that for a moment, Papyrus replied, “I _think_ he does. Sometimes he loves it! Though when he’s not as happy, not so much.”  
“Really?” Undyne asked around a mouthful of food. 

Papyrus nodded, “Usually, he won’t eat when he’s not feeling like himself. He used to hide uneaten food, nowadays he just leaves it.” He said with a sigh. 

“Didn’t know that.” Undyne mumbled, “He’s seemed okay the last week or so.” 

“Yes. He has been doing rather well, given the circumstances.” Which Papyrus had found reasonably odd.

Undyne read the underlying concern in her friend’s tone. “Ya still worried about him?” 

Papyrus eyed the corner of the room, “Yes, I must admit I am. I wish Sans could see how great he is… I tell him but I don’t think he listens. There is a lot I believe I don’t know about him. A while back I sought to figure it out; though my search has led to many dead ends and even more questions. I asked Grillby and Alphys but neither of them would say much. Grillby told me that Sans wouldn’t leave all of his secrets with one person, so the key was to ask around. Alas, my search had proved quite inconclusive.” 

Undyne slouched with her elbow against the table. “Ya never asked me.” 

Papyrus shot his focus fully onto her. “What? You know something?” 

The Captain nodded. “I know rather a lot, actually.” She smirked, enjoying the skeleton’s reaction.

“W-would you tell me?” Papyrus sputtered, surprised that Undyne was one of his brother’s secret keepers. Her and Sans had barely been on speaking terms a month ago. 

She pulled a thoughtful pose. “Not much, actually. Not by choice, I’m bound by Queen Tori and my position, to not divulge much.”

“The Queen? What does Toriel have to do with Sans, other than their friendship?” Papyrus spoke quickly, his interest growing. 

“Hmm… Can’t tell ya that.” Undyne smiled. “However, I do have something. Sans has been through a lot, not that I completely understand what exactly, but I’ve be reassured over and over that his word on this is truth. You familiar with Resets and timeline theory?” 

He nodded eagerly. That word, ‘Reset’, had come up over and over. Papyrus just had no idea how it fit in with Sans, it was a very large missing puzzle piece. 

Undyne continued, “When I visited him in jail, Sans told me he’d written out a report. It’d been meant for Alph, but she never got it… It’s on his computer in the basement. Sans told me that if I wanted the truth, to read that.” 

By the way she smiled, Papyrus must have looked pretty funny. This was exactly the kind of clue he’d been after! “Thank you, Undyne! Have you read it?” 

She shook her head, “Nah. I had enough evidence to tell he wasn’t who we’re after. I was going to look… but I decided against it. I had no reason to snoop in his personal business other than spite. When I realised that, I didn’t want to anymore. He hasn’t asked me about it once. Bet he’s forgotten.” 

“Wowie! Thank you, Undyne, really.” Papyrus gratefully called. 

“No big deal. Some time back, you told me you were worried Sans was so hopeless, he might dust… Him and Alphys shared in their worst traits. They’re both secretive, distrusting and would rather let a burden crush them than share the weight.” She paused. Papyrus unfortunately had to agree with her. “Don’t bother telling me I’m wrong, _I know_ that if I had a better understanding of what Alphys was dealing with, I could have saved her. I’m stuck with that now, but you aren’t.” Her words were said with ferocity, rather than the sadness.

Papyrus thumbed the edge of the table. “I suppose… I rather hoped Grillby would talk to him.”

She barked a laugh. “Great as Grillby is, I don’t think he knows all that much. Also, he’s not you. Sans loves you more than anyone, which is why you know the least, and also why I think it’s you who needs to save him.”

“S-so you do think he might fall down?” Papyrus questioned, nervously. 

Undyne said nothing, she instead fixed him with an intense gaze. That told him all he needed. Papyrus stood from the table. 

“You going now?”

With steely resolve, Papyrus met her gaze. “It doesn’t appear I have much choice. I wouldn’t be a very good brother if knew Sans was a threat to himself and did nothing about it.”

“That’s it, Pap!” Undyne whooped, punching the air. She jumped up and shoved the leftovers into his hand.

“Thank you again!” Papyrus took off running, heading back to Snowdin. 

Making a steady pace, it wasn’t long until Papyrus reached the little town. 

The door to their home was thrown open with the Papyrus’s usual vigour. He jogged upstairs and knocked on Sans/ Grillby’s door. When no one answered, Papyrus stepped inside. The ‘super-secret hidden key’ was laughably easy to find, upon cleaning, Papyrus had stored it in Sans’ sock draw, where anyone could find it, if needed. 

Papyrus met nobody as he hurried to the door at the back of the house, pressed forwards by eager anticipation. 

‘Click!’

The door creaked loudly open. Lights brighter than the outside streetlamps flickered on, making Papyrus squint. Dust-covered blankets thrown over unfinished projects, which looked to be long untouched. It was dusty and underutilised. Closing the loud door as softly as possible behind him, Papyrus peered beneath the sheets, the only contraption he recognised was ‘The Sausage Canon’. Offhandedly, Papyrus wondered whether Sans had put together this lab when they moved in. He couldn’t remember his brother doing so, so maybe it had been this way when they arrived. How strange, a lab wasn’t a usual room added onto a house. 

At the far end of the small makeshift lab was the computer. It whirred and flashed to life. Booting up slowly. Papyrus took the waiting time as opportunity to pull out the chair and take a seat. It was a chair from their kitchen which had gone missing a while back. 

A password screen displayed, stopping Papyrus from proceeding further. Hmm, what would Sans use as his password? 

‘The Great Papyrus is the best brother!’  
Nope.

‘Spaghetti’  
Not that one.

‘Lazy Bones’  
Nor that.

This wouldn’t do… Looking around the room for inspiration, his eyes landed on a shelf of books above the computer. All had their colours muted by a covering of dust. One however had recently been dusted off. A red joke book. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Picking it out, his attention was immediately drawn to a folded page. Turning to it revealed a hand written series of numbers and letters. 

Giving it a shot, Papyrus tapped the code into the password bar. 

‘Ping!’

The password was accepted! 

“Yess!” The skeleton threw his arms up in celebration. What genius! 

The background image was an old photograph. It depicted a rainy day in Waterfall. Alphys had taken the photograph, her head poking up in the bottom corner of the image. A school age Papyrus splashed about the puddles in soggy shoes and a raincoat twice his size, the arms so long they flopped over his hands. Papyrus was excitedly splashing water over Sans, who joined in with his brother, albeit reluctantly. Everyone looked like they were having a wonderful time. 

It hit Papyrus with a vivid nostalgia which only further encouraged him to find answers. 

The files were a little cluttered. Papyrus clicked on many documents which led to walls of scientific text and graphs of all kinds. There was a calendar with the same dates overlaid at least ten times in some places. Each spot on the calendar listed mundane day to day activities. Most of the same was written for the overlays. Why would you need multiple copies of the same diary? It reminded the skeleton of the many journals his brother kept hidden away in his room. The computerised calendar hadn’t been added to for around two months. The overlays had stopped four months ago, a month after the human had arrived. Confused, Papyrus left it to continue his search for the correct paper.

Having the idea to order the files by those recently worked on, he spotted a document by the title ‘Report for Alphys.’

A fairly lengthy file was pulled up, the date atop of the paper was the day before Sans had been arrested. ‘Timelines A-Z’ Was emboldened on top, ‘Dr. Alphys, for your eyes only as part of our deal.’ Was written below. 

The document began with a brief explanation of Resets and timeline theory. It was written for someone who already had knowledge of the phenomenon, which Papyrus was glad he already possessed, otherwise he would have already been very confused. The following paragraph interested him most. 

‘Though this topic was not one of my key fields of study, it concerns me for the reason that I am able to recall these erased timelines, which others are not. As far as I know, myself and the two anomalies are the only ones able to perceive this distortion in time. I’m unsure why I am the only one affected this way, as of current, I have no reasonable theories on the matter. As requested, here is my account of every timeline I can remember. Many have been lost to my memory, so here is the what I have, from the start, to where we are now. I write this now, believing, though with reasonable difficulty, that we are now without an anomaly, letting time flow as it should.’ 

Papyrus sat back in the chair. So that was how Sans was tied to this theory, he carried the memories no one else did? Wow! Why wouldn’t he talk about something like that? Though, if everyone else goes about their days the same as ever, and make the same decisions each time when faced with a choice, Papyrus supposed there wouldn’t really be much to talk about, as every timeline should be the same, right? That sure sounded boring. If the length of the document were anything to go by, there was more to it than that. 

A name jumped out right away. Flowey. Papyrus smiled, not hearing the name of his dear friend in some time. He still thought about the strange plant monster often, wishing he could have shared in the mystery they now sought to solve. 

The document described how Flowey had appeared suddenly one day, scared and confused. They had befriended Papyrus first, gaining other friends after. After some months, time had abruptly skipped back to a few days before Flowey had appeared. No one around Sans recalled the change, accept Flowey, who had appeared later that day. Both disturbed by the change, while all others went about their business, Flowey and Sans had sought each other out, the only ones to perceive the phenomenon. Realising the plant had an extraordinary ability, given by the Determination which fuelled him, Flowey had set about using this to help people. 

Sans recounted his feeling of pride that their friend was helping this way. So much so, that he was willing to put up with the disorientation the Resets brought, for the sake of those around him. Sans then moved onto talking about Flowey’s boredom, as his newfound ability brought out his arrogance, intensified by his inability to care for others. The plant’s movements turned experimental, moving from getting his subjects to react to various situations, to more extreme things. With a strange feeling in his chest, Papyrus read about how he was often Flowey’s first test subject for his schemes. 

A long bullet point list of Flowey’s activities, ranging from amusing to uncomfortable to horrific fell below. Each presumably their own timeline. 

It read like an over-the-top horror script, the writing staff throwing around ideas of horrendous ways to scare their audience. It sounded utterly unbelievable. Papyrus found it nearly impossible to relate to the words. Sure enough, he had no memory of all that had apparently befallen them during this time. Surely, he would remember! Surely, he couldn’t have died before?! 

If this truly had happened, Papyrus was quite thankful for his memory loss. Sans had remembered, presumably witnessing it all…

The document didn’t contain any of Sans’ personal thoughts or feelings. It was clinically to the point; just the facts. He did however include how Flowey had taken a special interest in Sans, him being the only other being of the same knowledge. For that reason, those closest to the skeleton had become Flowey’s favourite targets. Flowey had even killed Sans a few times…The strange feeling in Papyrus’s chest grew. 

By Flowey’s final timeline, he had Reset more times than could ever be counted. Sans had had great difficulty keeping track of the time spent. Seven months was the longest the plant had allowed time to progress; though time would usually Reset after only a few days or weeks. Sans had been stuck in that same loop for years. 

Why Flowey though? Sure, he often seemed a little… off. But hurting and killing people? It was a terrible thought and one which Papyrus couldn’t hope to process right now. 

And then the human had arrived. 

Sans explained that unlike how Flowey got his power from the artificially added Determination sustaining him; the human’s power came from their soul. It appeared to have been stronger and more refined than Flowey’s ability. 

To Papyrus, the human who had passed through left so little impression on him, he could barely recall their face. He’d been so excited too, if not capturing them, then at least befriending them would have been nice. In the end, neither had been possible. The small human hadn’t cared at all, not in the slightest. 

He read about how they had journeyed through the Underground, from the Ruins to New Home, in much the same way Papyrus recalled. How they had encountered an enraged Flowey, who’s abilities had seemingly been stolen by the human. Flowey had taken the human souls and engaged in battle. The human had, of course, won.

Sans recounted how he’d met them in the castle before they met Asgore, giving them advise. Papyrus thought this odd, he never thought Sans to be the judging type.  
On their next journey, they had managed somehow, to break the barrier. Papyrus had gotten a little lost in the explanation of that one. The monsters had made it to the surface! In the first real show of emotion, Sans described what above ground had been like. Warm sun, animals hidden in every place you looked. Warm pleasant streams and vast endless sea. A blanket of stars and bright celestial bodies, to watch over even the darkest nights. Strange locals, who had been accepting, if not a little weirded out by the monsters. 

…Until one morning he had awoken once more in his bed, in Snowdin. Trapped down below, all over again. 

Mirroring Flowey’s decline perfectly, the human showed a darker side. Hurting their friends, which quickly escalated to killing. After their rampage, they would leave for a few weeks to a month, allowing things to progress, as denizens of the Underground tried to adjust to life in the wake of what the human had left. 

There had been a timeline where Sans had gone to live with Toriel, Papyrus dead and Undyne threatening all who stood against her.  
One where Mettaton had taken control and ran their civilisation into the ground, the brothers getting as close to the star as possible in an attempt to secure food, shelter and safety.  
Somehow, Papyrus himself had become king. Sans recounted surprisingly little about this particular outcome, but remarked on how Papyrus’s optimism and love for others made him a compassionate, if not naive ruler.  
In one scenario, Alphys had taken leadership. She had done well, though her mental state was highly questionable. It was then that Papyrus noticed how little Alphys had been mentioned throughout the recounted stories. 

In one final block of text, Sans told of one timeline, where the human had killed everyone- every single monster they encountered. In league with Flowey, the plant had hunted down those the human hadn’t killed. Few had managed to hide, Alphys organised a way to escape. Some had died trying to persuade their attacker to see reason while others fell in vicious battles. Papyrus couldn’t imagine Undyne being defeated by a human… though he had to remind himself of their ability to rewrite time. They must have been persistent to manage that!

With the survivors on their way, Sans had stood against the human in the Judgment Hall, a last line of defence for King Asgore, who had been urged to use the human souls they’d acquired. Sans recounted how he’d fought the human, killing them over and over, neither side backing down. An indescribably long time passing as the human tried over and over to take Sans down.

The sick feeling in Papyrus’s chest grew ever uglier. Sans had killed them. Many times, by the sound of things. While part of him accepted that the human might have deserved it, another longed for a different, more compassionate outcome. Sans had just lost his brother and most of his friends, their little world being torn down around them. Papyrus wondered how he would have reacted if their roles had been reversed, if he’d been the one to watch his family die. 

As the fight had continued indefinitely, time itself had started to distort and crumble. Odd effects and permanent scars from a collapsing timeline. Dark cracks appearing on the walls, shadowy hands reaching out. Horrible effects on both participants…

Eventually, they had agreed to Reset. Time stuttered but did not instantly changed. Sans admitted to not remembering much. He had been found by the small group of survivors. The group had sat waiting in Asgore’s space for two full days, waiting for the Reset. Sans knew it would come, though he suspected the damaged timeline was to blame. 

The Core was unattended and overheating. The Capital was on fire. The survivors wrought with despair. In a final act of violence, Sans had dusted them, ending their suffering.

‘And then we all awoke here, the rest, you remember.’ It concluded with. Bringing the document to an end. 

Papyrus didn’t know how to respond, he had many questions. Sans had killed people, how many exactly? Because the way things were phrased, it was difficult to tell.  
Was the anomaly- the human, really gone? What if they decided to come back? What if the cycle of killing began again? Papyrus wouldn’t remember anything he’d done in the last five months, it would all be erased. If all of it was gone from his memory, this would be also, he’d lose his knowledge of ever knowing about the many timelines. 

In a horrible instant, Papyrus realised why Sans had never told him about the phenomenon. He likely had, many times. Each time, Papyrus had forgotten. The skeleton had died many times, of course he’d never learned to avoid unknown threats if it was new to him each time. 

How many times had Papyrus died? How many had Sans or Undyne or Alphys died? Had all of those terrible things really happened to them? How many times had Sans tried to reach out to his brother for support? When did Sans finally give up and cease trying to tell people? 

This perfectly explained why there had been points in time where Sans had wondered off to his Sentry post in the morning perfectly content, but had returned as a nervous wreck. In that time which separated them, there could have been a hundred different timelines playing out, that Papyrus couldn’t acknowledge. Or the night before the human had arrived, him and Sans had spent the evening laughing and joking about Mettaton on the television. The following morning, had Sans screaming himself awake. An empty, broken look in his eyes, which Papyrus had reassured him was merely a nasty dream. In reality, Sans had just returned from facing down the human hundreds of times, drowning in the despair of the last survivors and putting them all out of their misery. 

Papyrus sat completely still in the chair, staring hard at the wall. As much as he wanted so desperately to call this a hoax, it explained too much to be a work of fiction. It wasn’t just the hopelessness epidemic eating away at his brother, it was so much more. 

With no way to remotely empathise, Papyrus found himself out of touch with Sans, unable to think of a single way to comfort him. He could support Sans as much as he liked, but what if everything was Reset, and they ended up back at square one. 

Papyrus flicked back to the calendar. The overlaps in times and dates fit perfectly with Sans’ account of the events. 

He shut off the computer, flicked off the lights and creaked the door closed. The wind outside was cold as clouds were changing, the first signs of snow in the air.

 

“Sans?” Papyrus called, knocking on his own bedroom door before entering. Sure enough, Sans was half asleep in bed, the noise having stirred him. Even without his magic in the air, thanks to the suppressor he now wore, it was easy to tell he wasn’t having the best of days. 

“S’up, Papyrus?” Sans didn’t bother to smile. 

Without another word, Papyrus approached. Sitting down, Papyrus pulled his blanket cocooned brother into a hug. 

Giving only a startled noise, Sans allowed himself to be hoisted into Papyrus’s arms. “What’s the matter, bro? You feeling _bonely?_ ” 

“No. I just wanted to remind you that you’re still my favourite monster in the Underground.” Papyrus squeezed him tightly. 

Sans relaxed in Papyrus’s hold, though his frown still clung slightly. “Heh, surely there’s a few candidates much cooler than I’ll ever be.” 

“Perhaps, but that doesn’t devalue what you mean to me. You’ll always be the bestest.” Whatever Sans had done during the past timelines, the people he had killed meant nothing to Papyrus. It wasn’t Sans’ fault. He’d reacted to whatever horrors had been thrown his way and Papyrus couldn’t blame him for that. Papyrus couldn’t be angry, it was never in his brother’s nature to hurt people for no reason- and it never would be. Now, the skeleton was being framed for several murders, which he had somehow been forced into committing. His friends had accused him. They’d thrown him in jail. Sans never deserved that. Papyrus wondered how strong Sans must have been, to withstand all of that despair. 

Sans rested his head against the tallers’ shoulder. “You’re my bestest, too.”

“Are you alright? You don’t look too well.” Papyrus asked, keeping his voice respectfully low to not disturb Sans.

The other sighed, “Yeah. I lost my temper earlier and yelled at Grillby. Feel kinda shitty ‘bout it.” He admitted. 

“I’m sure he knows you didn’t mean it.” Papyrus smiled. He held Sans close, wishing he could cure this strange affliction of his brother’s. “You know, as your cool brother, you can tell me about anything you want, right?”

In a sluggish movement, Sans flicked his gaze up to Papyrus but otherwise said nothing. 

Papyrus continued, “You’re the strongest monster I know, Sans, don’t forget that.” 

“Me?” Sans huffed what might have been the start of a laugh. “Something happen, bro? You okay?”

“Yes, I’m just fine.” Papyrus smiled earnestly above him. “Just please, please don’t forget that.”

In his soul, a declaration was made; Papyrus would make sure Sans remembered how strong and how dear he was to him, even when Sans himself forgot. While he’d had no way of helping Sans up to this point, Papyrus would make sure he got things right this time. He wasn’t losing his brother; they could be sure of that. 

It was a sorrowful sort of hope, an inspiring kind. 

Much to his own surprise, Papyrus didn’t care about Sans’ past transgressions. It was now which mattered. 

Sans was the strongest monster he knew- and Papyrus wouldn’t let him forget that anytime soon.

 

A/n  
Ooh, is that angst I smell?! Yes, I believe it is!

**Something you can take part in, if you'd like...**  
(This post is originally on the Tumblr. I'll just paste it here)  
_There’s a character who’s shown up in this story a few times, I never named her and she kinda needs one now._

_Silly names are absolutely welcome, Spug, frinkel, Soot. That kinda thing._  
Doesn’t have to sound female.  
Maybe a horribly mispronounced female name?  
Bonus points if it begins with ‘P’. Though I’m really not too bothered.  
Already had 'Poppi', ‘Joplin’ and ‘Tamari’ suggested.  
Suggest as many as you like!  
I’ll choose some favourites and randomise them to pick a winner. 

Thanks, love as always! <3


End file.
